8-year-old dies after eating strawberries from school fundraiser, police say

HOPKINS CO., Ky. (WFIE/Gray News) – Police in Kentucky are investigating after they say an 8-year-old boy died after eating strawberries from a school fundraiser.

Hospital staff said they treated other patients who had also eaten the strawberries.

The Madisonville Police Department said officers were called to a home around 6:30 a.m. Friday for an 8-year-old boy who was unresponsive and not breathing.

The family told police that their son had eaten several strawberries from a school fundraiser the night before.

They say he began showing signs of an allergic reaction, which primarily manifested with a rash.

It’s unclear if the child had a known allergy.

Police said the family gave him Benadryl for the symptoms and soaked him in a bath.

When the symptoms would not go away, the family reportedly took him to the emergency room around 10:30 p.m. Thursday and then brought him back home several hours later.

Police said the family tried to wake him up for school Friday morning and discovered he was unresponsive.

While detectives were investigating in the emergency room, several staff members told officers that other patients had come in for treatment after eating strawberries believed to be from the same fundraiser.

After the boy’s death, the Hopkins County Health Department warned the community to not eat any strawberries purchased at school fundraisers in Hopkins County.

The boy’s identity has not been released. His autopsy is pending, but a preliminary report from the medical examiner said the death “looks like an isolated allergic reaction,” the health department said Friday afternoon.

Still, the health department is warning people not to eat the strawberries.

The strawberries were distributed by fundraisers for Madisonville North Hopkins High School and Hopkins County Central High School athletics.

Officials said the strawberries were grown at Southern Grown and Sizemore Farms and were distributed by Juicy Fruit LLC.

The Department of Public Health Environmentalists are reportedly taking samples of the strawberries to the state lab for testing.

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