Caramel Apple Deaths: Sad to say everyone should be wary of biting caramel-coated apples from now on after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that four documented deaths could be due to eating such sweet treats.
According to 9News, caramel apple deaths were discovered after 28 people in at least 10 states have contracted bacterial infection, with 80 percent of these cases being linked to the ingestion of commercially prepared caramel apples.
The states with caramel apple death cases were: Arizona, California, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.
Out of the 28 patients, 26 were hospitalised and five of them died with one not being linked to death due to caramel apples.
Health officials believe that the caramel apple deaths may be primarily due to Listeria contamination, which is why they are attempting to identify specific brands of caramel apples that may have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
While recent updates claim that four of of the five documents deaths were linked to ingestion of contaminated caramel apples, the Food and Drug Administration said earlier that only three deaths were confirmed to have been caused by Listeriosis, reports MyFox8.
"Listeriosis contributed to three of these deaths and it is unclear whether it contributed to a fourth. The fifth death was unrelated to listeriosis," the FDA said in a press release.
Meanwhile, out of the infected patients, nine are reportedly pregnant, and authorities say that pregnant women are 10 times more likely to contract the bacterial disease after eating infected food.
On Dec. 22, the family of one of the late infected patients, Shirlee Frey, filed a lawsuit against Happy Apple Company, Inquisitr has learned.
According to court documents, Shirlee had bought and consumed prepackaged caramel apples before she fell ill and was diagnosed of having Listeria infection. She passed away on Dec. 2.
The Happy Apple Company has already issued a recall for its caramel apple which were mainly distributed to Walmart, Sam's Club and Safeway in a number of states.
Caramel apple deaths continue to be a terrifying issue; however, health officials said that home-mad ones do not pose such health risk that commercially prepared ones have.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
