The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition has published a food alert in relation to ground cinnamon that contains Clostridium perfringens spores, and asks people who have the affected product in their homes not to consume it. Its intake can cause watery diarrhea and abdominal cramps, among other symptoms.
The cinnamon involved is the one sold in a 700 gr plastic container by Especias Pedrosa. The affected batches are A220079 and A222605, with consumption dates of 12/31/2023 and 02/28/2026.
The AESAN has learned of this alert notification sent by the Madrid health authorities through the Coordinated System for Rapid Information Exchange (SCIRI).
The data has been sent to the competent authorities of the autonomous communities in order to verify the withdrawal of affected products from marketing channels and to report the existence of possible cases.
According to the Catalan Food Safety Agency (ACSA), Clostridium perfringens is a bacillus whose spores are formed in adverse environmental conditions and in the digestive system of humans and animals. The optimum growth temperature is in a range between 40°C and 45°C.
In most cases, the ACSA points out, the cause of poisoning by C. perfringens is the abuse of the temperature of food preservation after cooking and the multiplication of this microorganism during cooling and storage.
The symptoms that poisoning by this bacterium usually causes are watery diarrhea and abdominal cramps. C. perfringens can cause two types of disease: a normally mild and self-limited gastroenteritis, or a more severe form, necrotizing enteritis, which can cause septicemia 2.
This bacterium is commonly associated with cooked meats, cooked meat products, meat sauces, casseroles, and meatballs that have been produced in large quantities and refrigerated at the wrong temperature.
