Tag Archives: Cantaloupe

FDA: 141 sick, 2 dead in 20 states from Salmonella in cantaloupe

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local officials are investigating a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium infections.

A total of 141 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from 20 states.

The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (7), Arkansas (3), California (2), Georgia (1), Illinois (17), Indiana (13), Iowa (7), Kentucky (50), Michigan (6), Minnesota (3), Missouri (9), Mississippi (2), New Jersey (1), North Carolina (3), Ohio (3), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (3), Tennessee (6), Texas (1), and Wisconsin (2).

Thirty-one persons have been hospitalized, and two deaths have been reported in Kentucky.

In the course of their investigation, state officials in Kentucky and Indiana found evidence that they believe indicate cantaloupes grown in southwestern Indiana may be a source of the ongoing Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak. FDA officials are actively investigating potential sources of the outbreak, and will continue to update the public as more specific information becomes available.

2 dead, 50 ill in Kentucky with Salmonella from Indiana cantaloupes; multi-state outbreak unfolding

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A strain of salmonella associated with two deaths and 50 illnesses in Kentucky since early July has been found in cantaloupes tested by the state, public health officials said Friday.

Acting Public Health Commissioner Steve Davis issued a statement Friday advising Kentuckians to avoid eating cantaloupes that were grown in southwestern Indiana.

"In addition, health care providers are encouraged to be mindful of patients who may have symptoms consistent with salmonellosis and report all cases to the local health department," Davis said.

Illnesses have occurred statewide and many counties have people who have been sickened, including some in Central and Eastern Kentucky, said Beth Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Cases are most concentrated around Owensboro and in far Western Kentucky, where both deaths occurred, Fisher said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is collaborating with public health officials in affected states and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to investigate the ongoing outbreak, including tracing the source of the affected melons and shipments of melons that may have been contaminated.

A table of cantaloupe-related outbreaks is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/cantaloupe-related-outbreaks.

NC cantaloupe grower lacked audits, traceability; all melons recalled

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Food safety needs to be marketed at retail, otherwise consumers have no idea what they are buying.

Hucksters and posers can gas on about how their food is natural, sustainable, local and comes from a farmer I can look in the eye, but I’d rather know the food safety program behind the fruit and veg, along with the data to verify things are working.

Few hawkers, at a market or a supermarket, can answer those questions.

Consumers are left with faith-based food safety.

That faith usually rests with buyers at supermarkets and retailers.

So when it was revealed that Burch Farms had to recall the entire season’s worth of rock and honeydew melon because listeria was found and then it was discovered they had never had a food safety audit — a standard but inadequate minimal requirement to secure retail space — I wondered, who buys this stuff?

“The cantaloupes and honeydew melons involved in this expanded recall were sold to distributors between June 23rd and July 27th, in the following states: FL, GA, IL, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SC, and VA, VT and WV. The melons may have further been distributed to retail stores, restaurants and food service facilities in other states."

Complete distribution details on the melons are not available, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Everyone buys it.

The Packer reports today that Listeria contamination at the Burch Farms melon packing facility in Faison, N.C., was confirmed on Aug. 13.

Company spokeswoman Teresa Burch said it has not had its cantaloupe operation audited by a third party for food safety practices, and although the company has traceability programs for other items, there is none in place for its melons.

Burch Equipment LLC, doing business as Burch Farms, originally recalled about 5,200 cantaloupes July 28 after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Microbiological Data Program found listeria on one melon at retail during a random sampling.

The grower expanded the recall to include 188,900 cantaloupes Aug. 3 and corrected the variety from athena to caribbean golds. That expansion came after the FDA revealed it had found “unsanitary conditions” at the Burch packing shed.

Owner Jimmy Burch Sr. said he uses the sanitizer SaniDate in his packing facility’s water. According to the Burch Farms website, the operations are audited by PrimusLabs.

PrimusLabs in-house counsel Ryan Fothergill confirmed that the company has audited the leafy greens processing and field operations at Burch Farms but not the cantaloupe operation. Fothergill said Primus records show its staff was last at the Burch operation in March.

Burch said he planted only about 10 acres of honeydews for this season. The entire crop went to wholesalers. He said his farm has not had food safety issues in the past.

Of course not. Ignorance is bliss. And that’s the way growers and sellers prefer it. Market food safety at retail.

Food safety can be mind-numbing; sometimes it’s better to rock, not rockmelon

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The most interesting line is again, buried at the bottom of the press release.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided to inspect the North Carolina cantaloupe grower that tested positive for listeria and then decided to immediately expand the recall. “The recall expansion is based on unsanitary conditions found at the cantaloupe packing shed during FDA’s ongoing inspection that may allow for contamination of cantaloupes with Listeria monocytogenes.”

Who knows what would make individual growers shape up after 37 dead last year from listeria in cantaloupe. Inspection is a mess, audits seem worse, where’s the leadership?

Sometimes maybe it’s better to just rock: you don’t see bass-player-head bobbing like that or a Larry Robinson Montreal Canadians jersey any more. 

Listeria in cantaloupe; seek and ye shall find; NC melons recalled in NY

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A North Carolina farm is recalling 580 cases of cantaloupes that were sent to New York because they could be contaminated with listeria.

Burch Equipment announced the voluntary recall Saturday.

The farm says the whole Athena cantaloupes were shipped July 15. They have a red label with Burch Farms.

Anyone with one of the cantaloupes should destroy the melon.

The Hannaford Bros. Co. supermarket chain also recalled the same melons.

Hannaford Supermarkets operates 181 stores in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

To build trust, market food safety at retail, especially after an outbreak that kills

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How should retailers market cantaloupe after last year’s listeria outbreak killed at least 33 and sickened at least another 146?

Armand Lobato, who works for the Idaho Potato Commission, has some ideas, which he shared in The Packer.

“As a produce manager, I would build a display appropriate for a generations-old relationship, not only between the bonafide, reputable growers and our chain but considering what the shipper brands and the Rocky Ford name have come to mean to our customers.

“I would make sure the display is placed prominently in the produce department, with a hearty spillover, as neatly well-stocked and rotated as any other display.

“I would also provide information for customers who wanted more information about the melons (as I’m sure the chain would provide anyhow). I would post this on the back of my large easel-sized sign and include what steps have been taken since last season. If I was the produce manager I would make sure that my crew knew every detail so they could answer customers’ questions, face-to-face.”

Sounds like marketing food safety at retail. I’m a fan of that. When Maple Leaf deli meats killed 23 Canadians in 2008, there were no such displays at retail. There was lots of talk, but to really regain trust, be completely transparent – and that includes safety data available to those who want it.

Salmonella? Here? In Australian cantaloupe?

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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.

Salmonella? Here? In Australian cantaloupe?***

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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.

God don’t have much to do with it; food safety outbreaks are not flukes of faith; buying might be

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A cantaloupe farmer linked to the listeria-related deaths of 36 people and the illnesses of at least 146 in 2011 says the outbreak was “something Mother Nature did. We didn’t have anything to do with it.”

Eric Jensen, the fourth-generation produce grower who runs what’s left of Colorado-based Jensen Farms with his brother Ryan, told the Dallas Morning News, “We’re not selling anything,” adding that he had to lay off his staff of 15 in December. “We’re just sitting still right now. We hope to figure out a way to come out of it. We’ve got four generations worth of work.”

Whatever your god or belief, I’ve yet to see divine intervention as a cause of foodborne illness. Instead, illnesses and outbreaks are frighteningly consistent in their underlying causes: a culmination of a small series of mistakes that, over time, results in illness and death. After-the-fact investigations usually conclude, why didn’t this happen earlier, with all the mistakes going on?

This is no different from other failures such as BP, Bhopal and the space shuttle Challenger: technological sophistication is easily superseded by the vagaries of human behavior and belief.

So while Jensen Farms languishes in bankruptcy and self-affirming fairy-tales, and distributors and retailers ask themselves, why did we rely on such lousy food safety assurances, California growers are trying to develop an industry-wide, mandatory food safety plan.

But based on early indications, California growers are setting up a flawed system that promotes self-satisfaction and soundbites over safety.

Tying a brand or commodity – lettuce, tomatoes, meat — to the lowest common denominator of government inspections is a recipe for failure. The Pinto automobile also met government standards – didn’t help much in the court of public opinion.

The best growers, processors and retailers will far exceed minimal government standards, will proactively test to verify their food safety systems are working, will transparently publicize those results and will brag about their excellent food safety by marketing at retail so consumers can actually choose safe food.

Jensen Farms files bankruptcy in wake of cantaloupe listeria deaths

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Kids, kids, the rock melons are back in Brisbane.

I bought three small and juicy cantaloupes Friday for $2, or $0.68 each at the fruit and veg shop. An older woman was stocking up, and said to me, “$0.68, how can you go wrong?”

I didn’t want to spoil her appetite and get into the whole-listeria-or-salmonella in cantaloupe thing. But things can go wrong.

The Denver Post reports that Jensen Farms, the southeastern Colorado cantaloupe growers who were the source of a deadly listeria outbreak last year, filed for bankruptcy Friday.

Lawsuits from the outbreak, which caused at least 32 deaths, dozens of hospitalizations and 146 illnesses, are prominent in the filings.

Jensen’s bankruptcy attorney, Jim Markus, said the filing should free up millions of dollars in insurance and other funds.

"We’re hopeful the bankruptcy process is a mechanism to help get them paid, as quickly as we can distribute it to victims," Markus said.