A second person has died after eating a broccoli sandwich in Italy amid a toxic butolism outbreak that has left multiple people hospitalised.

Last week, 52-year-old artist Luigi Di Sarno died after eating the panini from a food truck in the town of Diamante, in Calabria.

Now, Tamara D’Acunto, 45, has also died, and more than a dozen people have been hospitalised.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the outbreak and ordered a nationwide recall of the commercially produced panini that has left 14 people with food poisoning including two teenagers.

Postmortem examinations are being conducted this week as part of the investigation.