Two people are now confirmed dead after eating broccoli and sausage sandwiches from an Italian food truck.
45-year-old Tamara D’Acunto is confirmed to have died after undergoing treatment in intensive care for botulism from lunch.
Musician Luigi Di Sarno, 52, also died after buying the sandwich from a kiosk in Diamante, Calabria, in southern Italy.
More than 17 people are in hospital, prompting the Public Prosecutor’s Office to seize the jars of broccoli from the business.
Cases of the rare and life-threatening disease were found in other Italian regions.
What is botulism?
Botulism is a rare and sometimes life-threatening disease caused by toxins produced by the clostridium botulinum bacteria.
Historically contracted due to improperly canned food, the toxins attack the nervous system, leading to muscle paralysis.
More recently in the UK, patients were diagnosed with botulism linked to unlicensed anti-wrinkle injections.
Symptoms include blurred vision, fatigue and difficulties breathing.
Around 5 to 10 per cent of cases are fatal, according to the NHS.
Because a majority of doctors have never encountered it, initial misdiagnosis is not uncommon.
It came as Roberta Pitzalis, 38, died from complications after eating a guacamole from a stand at a gastronomic festival in Cagliari, Sardinia.
According to La Repubblica, her condition had appeared to stabilise before she suddenly deteriorated.
An 11-year-old boy who also attended the Monserrato Latina festival and had eaten a taco with guacamole, was transferred by helicopter to Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
He remains in a stable condition but has yet to make a recovery.
Authorities in Cagliari have launched an investigation into the outbreak.
Experts are advising people to exercise caution when buying risky foods and avoid eating products from cans or jars where the safety button has popped up, indicating the container has not been properly sealed.
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