Overview

• Luigi Di Sarno, a 52-year-old artist and musician, collapsed near Lagonegro after eating a broccoli and sausage sandwich from a Diamante food truck and died before reaching hospital; nine other consumers, including two teenagers and two women in their 40s, remain in intensive care.
• Italian authorities have ordered a nationwide recall of broccoli, seized jars of broccoli in oil and confiscated the implicated food truck as part of the emergency response.
• The Calabria Region’s Department of Health activated national botulism protocols, mobilizing antitoxin from Ministry of Health stockpiles via the Poison Control Centre in Pavia and flying vials to affected hospitals.
• The Paola Public Prosecutor’s Office and health agencies are collecting food samples, awaiting autopsy and laboratory analyses, and tracing distribution chains to pinpoint the contamination source and any connection to prior Sardinia cases.
• This cluster follows suspected botulism linked to guacamole at a Sardinia festival, underscoring the dangers of improperly preserved low-acid foods and Italy’s reliance on centralized antitoxin distribution.