In 2006, 36 people were confirmed stricken with Salmonella Saintpaul in Australia linked to cantaloupe (rockmelon).

Apparently a lot of Australians don’t know that.

Dr Craig Shadbolt of the New South Wales Food Authority told a conference recently Australia had also detected listeria in rockmelons, to the surprise of many delegates within the room.

Listeria was detected within rockmelons on farms in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria over a five month period in 2010.

Stock & Land reports traceback exercises were inconclusive, but did show links to a certain growing region.

No further outbreaks were detected once the harvest from that region was over.

Mr Shadbolt said the incident highlighted the need for Australian farmers to incorporate fruit and vegetable tracking mechanisms on their farms.

In response to the US listeria outbreak, the Australian melon industry is also commencing a project to understand the level of food safety practices on farms and educate growers.

How best to do that apparently remains unknown.