Can a broccoli sandwich kill you? THIS case says yes

A late-night snack turned into a nightmare for one Italian student who says she narrowly escaped death.

What began as a simple choice to add broccoli to a sandwich left her in intensive care, fighting a rare and deadly illness.

Two others who ate the same meal were not as fortunate.

Gaia Vitiello, 24, a student at the Federico II University of Naples, had been out with friends in the town of Diamante, Calabria, when they stopped at a local food truck in the early hours of 5 August.

They all ordered the same sandwich—mayonnaise, sausage and chips—but Gaia added broccoli for the first time.

Just one hour later, she began experiencing severe diarrhoea, thinking at first it was indigestion.

By the following day, her symptoms had worsened—she could not swallow and her legs began shaking.

Reluctant to seek help, she was taken by her sister Alessia to a local clinic and quickly transferred to Annunziata Hospital in Cosenza.

‘If my sister Alessia hadn’t taken me to the hospital by force, I wouldn’t be here today,’ she said, adding that she felt ‘lucky’ to have survived.

Doctors diagnosed her with botulism, a rare but potentially fatal condition caused by toxins produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria.

Authorities linked her illness to the same sandwich that has been blamed for killing artist and musician Luigi Di Sarno, 52, and Tamara D’Acunto, 45.

The outbreak has left more than a dozen people hospitalised, including two teenagers, and has triggered a nationwide recall of the commercially produced panini.

Nine people are under investigation—among them the food truck owner, three employees of the sandwich manufacturer, and five doctors accused of failing to act quickly enough to save victims.

Investigators believe the food truck, parked on the seafront in Cosenza, had been left in the hot sun all day, creating conditions for the toxins to develop in perishable ingredients like grilled sausage and ‘cime di rapa’—an Italian summer vegetable similar to broccoli.

Postmortem examinations for both victims are being carried out this week.

Health authorities have moved to ensure antitoxins are readily available, with emergency supplies flown from Rome to Calabria in anticipation of more cases.

Botulism can cause paralysis, respiratory failure and death, and while treatments cannot reverse existing paralysis, prompt administration of antitoxins can stop it from spreading.

If lunch can put you in hospital, what would make you think twice before eating out?