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Cantaloupe Listeria Outbreak Tracked to Packing Shed, Auditor Hired By California-Based Firm Thought Everything Looked Fine
Photo by Layland Masuda via Shutterstock
The origin of a listeria outbreak that tainted cantaloupes from a farm in Colorado has been traced to a packing shed on the farm.
Government investigators found a packing shed on Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado that was full of listeria-tainted water. Workers would tramp through the water and spread the listeria onto equipment that was used to pack the cantaloupes, according to the New York Times.
Now investigators are trying to figure out how this information got by the California-based auditing firm PrimusLabs that gave the farm its stamp of approval. The president of PrimusLabs told the New York Times his company reviewed the audit and didn't find any problems. "We thought he did a pretty good job," Stovicek said.
So far the listeria outbreak has been linked to 25 deaths.
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