Artist dies after eating broccoli and sausage sandwich during botulism outbreak

11 August 2025, 12:19

One person has died and nine others were hospitalised after an outbreak of botulism from eating broccoli.

Musician Luigi Di Sarno, 52, collapsed and died after buying a broccoli and sausage sandwich from a kiosk in Diamante, Calabria in southern Italy.

Two 17-year-olds and two women in their 40s are in intensive care at Annunziata hospital in Cosenza.

Mr Di Sarno was driving back to his home in Napoli when he reported feeling unwell – before stopping near Lagonegro in Potenza. He pulled over in the small town of Basilicata. Emergency services rushed to the scene but Mr Di Sarno died before making it to hospital.

The outbreak has been tracked to a shipment of broccoli preserved in oil.

Other customers besides his family are said to have fallen ill after eating from the same vendor.

Last month, eight people were hospitalised after eating infected guacamole at a festival.

A woman, 38, died from complications after eating a guacamole from a stand at Fiesta Latin, held between July 22 and 25 at Monserrato. festival in Cagliari, Sardinia.

An 11-year-old boy who was at the same festival and ate a taco with guacamole is in stable condition at a hospital in Rome.

Authorities are investigating the outbreak and are advising people to exercise caution when buying ‘risky’ food and not to eat canned or jarred products where the safety lid has popped up indicating the container was not properly sealed.

Authorities have ordered a recall of broccoli across the country.

Authorities also seized the food van where Mr Di Sarno and others purchased sandwiches as part of their investigation.

Botulism is a rare but potentially Fatal toxin that can develop in certain foods if improperly processed.

Clostridium botulinum bacteria and attacks the nervous system, causing breathing difficulties, muscle paralysis and is fatal in around 10 per cent of cases.

Calabria Region’s Department of Health and Welfare stated: “The emergency procedure established in these cases has been activated, which requires immediate notification to the Poison Control Centre in Pavia, the only national centre designated for the management of botulism.

“No region or hospital in the country is authorised to store the antivenom in their own facilities.

“This serum, however, is exclusively available to the Ministry of Health, which holds it in designated secure locations and distributes it only through the Lombardy Poison Control Centre.”