USA TODAY
By Elizabeth Weise
Federal health officials say they found listeria throughout the packing facility of the Colorado farm whose cantaloupe have so far caused 25 deaths and more than 125 illnesses.
In a report released Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration cited multiple problems at the Jensen Farms facility in Holly, Colo., some of which could suggest how listeria came to enter the farm’s packing shed.
For instance, officials said, a truck used to take waste cantaloupes to a nearby cattle farm was parked next to the open-air packing shed. Because cattle are known carriers of the listeria bacteria, manure carried on the truck’s wheels could have contaminated the area around the packing facility.
Other problems found included:
•Equipment used to wash and dry the cantaloupe was impossible to clean thoroughly and had built-up dirt on it.
•A refrigerator drain line allowed water to pool on the floor next to the packing equipment.
•The floor of the packing shed was constructed such that it was very difficult to clean.
•The company had purchased a used potato-washing machine to clean its cantaloupes, which may have been another way that listeria was introduced to the facility.
•The cantaloupe, which typically come in from the fields at 80 degrees, were not pre-cooled to inhibit bacteria growth before being placed in cold storage. This could have created conditions that allowed for condensation, an environment ideal for growth of listeria.
The outbreak is now one of deadliest of listeria in the USA. The deadliest known was in 1985 when a Mexican-style soft cheese contaminated with listeria from Jalisco Products killed 18 adults and 10 newborns, as well as caused 20 miscarriages, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It sickened 142 others.
This outbreak has been linked to Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupes sold by Jensen Farms. The cantaloupes were recalled Sept. 14, and no melons under the recall should still be on store shelves. Most of the contaminated melons should be out of the food supply by now. The CDC and the FDA said any cantaloupes not from Jensen Farms are safe to eat.
Symptoms of listeriosis can take up to two months to develop in someone who has eaten contaminated food, so illnesses could continue to show up into November, the CDC said.
FDA officials announced the results of their findings today at a news conference in Washington D.C. The inspections at the farm, which included staff from FDA and Colorado state officials, took place on Sept. 10.
They took 39 environmental samples from the facility, mostly swabs of surfaces. No samples from the fields were positive for the outbreak strains, but 12 from the packing facility were.
Armed with those findings, FDA inspectors returned to the farm on Sept. 22 and 23 and conducted further inspections, where they found the problems listed above. The firm cooperated with the inspections.
Consumers shouldn’t be concerned about cantaloupe in general, says Sherri McGarry, an adviser to FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation team.
“We want to emphasize that there’s no reason to believe that these factors are indicative of practices through the industry,” McGarry said. “I’d say that they were fairly unique.”
Jim Gorny, FDA’s senior adviser for produce safety, said that the conditions found at Jensens Farms were not normal for other cantaloupe facilities.
