# Final Report on Cantaloupe Deaths



## moore2me (Oct 20, 2011)

*Source of deadly cantaloupe listeria problem identified by FDA and CDC  Identified as Jensen Farms in Colorado​*
 123 total victims/ 25 deaths in 19 US states (CDC data)

 Culprit was Jensen Farms in Colorado, seller of Rocky Ford cantaloupes contaminated with Listeria bacteria

 Attacks occurred over 3 months (July to Sept 2011)

 Listeria is more deadly than E coli or salmonella. It generally will not kill a healthy person, but can kill persons with weakened immune systems, the elderly, and the very young. It is also dangerous to pregnant women and can cause spontaneous abortions in the unborn baby. Also, babies can be born with listeria infections. 4 such births occurred during this outbreak.

 Symptoms in adults include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms

*Why Jensen Farms?* 
1. Packaging room was open air and its floor was found to have puddles of water that containing listeria & collected near the cantaloupes.

2. The farm did not use a process called "pre-cooling" that is designed to remove some condensation, thus creating moist conditions on the cantaloupe rind that are ideal for listeria bacteria growth. Listeria grows in cool environments, unlike most pathogens.

3. In July, the company bought some old processing equipment was used to process potatoes. The equipment was dirty and hard to keep clean. Soil from the potatoes could have contaminated the packing house. 

4. The company fed scrap melons to nearby cows at a packing house. The melon trailers were often left parked at the packing house where contamination with cattle excrement could have occurred.

5. 1/3 of the areas swap tested at the facility tested positive for listeria.

The FDAs report stated that Jensen Farms created an area that was an ideal breeding ground for listeria bacteria by overall poor sanitation and widespread contamination. Listeria contamination often comes from animal feces or decaying vegetation.

*Sources*
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm271879.htm
http://www.katv.com/story/15732397/fda-cites-dirty-equipment-in-cantaloupe-outbreak
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6039a5.htm?s_cid=mm6039a5_w
http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm276249.htm
(Last item above is FDAs enforcement letter to Jensen Farms issued 10/18/2011.)


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## Lamia (Oct 20, 2011)

moore2me said:


> *Source of deadly cantaloupe listeria problem identified by FDA and CDC  Identified as Jensen Farms in Colorado​*
>  123 total victims/ 25 deaths in 19 US states (CDC data)
> 
>  Culprit was Jensen Farms in Colorado, seller of Rocky Ford cantaloupes contaminated with Listeria bacteria
> ...



I am so glad I hate cantalope. This is horrible that people died from something as simple as eating a piece of fruit.


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## Webmaster (Oct 21, 2011)

An additional unfortunate fact is that every time something goes wrong with a producer or facility and must be corrected, everyone else in that industry suffers. According to reports, cantaloupe sales all but collapsed everywhere, though the fruit is perfectly fine. So that means a lot of waste and lost production for a problem that was traced to a single facility.


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