Stay Away From Cantaloupes

From the archive: first published September 28, 2011.

Listeria in cantaloupes: deadliest outbreak in a decade. At least 13 people have died from cantaloupes tainted with Listeria bacteria, the CDC reported this week. Seventy-two people in 18 states have fallen ill — and federal officials warn more cases are likely, since listeria symptoms can take weeks to appear.

The outbreak has been traced to whole cantaloupes grown by Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado, sold under the Rocky Ford brand. Jensen Farms issued a voluntary recall on September 14 after testing found the outbreak strains on its cantaloupes and on equipment at its facility. The recalled fruit was shipped to at least 25 states between July 29 and September 10 — and because cantaloupes carry no labels, consumers may not know their melon came from the farm.

CDC director Thomas Frieden said investigators were "quite confident that the current outbreak is localized to Jensen Farms." The victims were overwhelmingly vulnerable: the median age of the ill was 78, and most were over 60 or had weakened immune systems. Listeria is rare but brutal — it causes invasive infection that spreads to the bloodstream, and it is especially dangerous for the elderly, pregnant women and newborns.

This is the first listeria outbreak ever traced to whole cantaloupe, though the fruit has been linked to 10 prior foodborne outbreaks (salmonella and norovirus). It is already being called the deadliest US foodborne outbreak in more than a decade.

What happened next: the outbreak eventually sickened 147 people and killed 33 across 28 states — the deadliest US foodborne outbreak since 1985. In 2013 the Jensen brothers, who ran the farm, pleaded guilty to introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce and received five years' probation.

Editor's note: this article was rewritten during our editorial review. The original 2011 version reproduced a press report verbatim and broke off mid-sentence; the text above is an original summary of the reported facts, with the final toll and legal outcome added.