MORE CONTAMINATED CANTALOUPES

Latest statistics: at least 84 confirmed illnesses in 19 states and 15 deaths. This is the deadliest outbreak in the U.S. food supply since 1998.

In an industrialized food supply - such as that of the United States - food recalls commonly get bigger as time goes by. Other producers become involved, other distributors, other food companies who have used the contaminated products - or, it will be found that the food has reached additional markets in other areas of the country or even additional countries. That's what's happened with the ongoing Listeria-contaminated Rocky Ford cantaloupe recall in the U.S.

When I first blogged these contaminated whole cantaloupes (September 13) it was believed that they had been been shipped to only Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. When the company's recall came out the next day, it said they had gone to 17 U.S. states (IL, WY, TN, UT, TX, CO, MN, KS, NM, NC, MO, NE, OK, AZ, NJ, NY, PA). Then, more than two weeks later, Jensen Farms of Holly, Colorado has admitted that ...ooops...a further check of its records show that it somehow didn't include all the states in its Sept. 14 recall. These contaminated whole cantaloupes also went to Indiana, Louisiana and Wisconsin.

This is really inexcusable. Stores in Indiana, Louisiana and Wisconsin didn't pull these cantaloupes off their shelves, food producers may have been using them, and people have been eating them for these two weeks - and some of them have been getting seriously ill.

Either this grower's records are the world's biggest mess, or, someone hid something.

To your good health,
TSF