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Food

Fear the Melon: Contaminated Cantaloupe in California

Lindsay William-Ross

Published Sep 19, 2011 11:00 PM

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A recent health scare connected to contaminated cantaloupe has reached California, as an outbreak of Listeria has caused 35 people in 11 states, including ours, to become ill. Four deaths have been associated with the illness, notes KTLA.

One distributor, Colorado's Jensen Farms, has been linked to the outbreak. They have now issued a voluntary recall of all their Rocky Ford Cantaloupe, shipped between July 29 and September 10 to at least 17 states.

The FDA urges consumers who have cantaloupes affected by the recall to just toss the fruit, rather than try to wash them off then eat them, since the contamination be inside the melon as well.

Listeriosis is a rare, but sometimes fatal, infection. Pregnant women, people over the age of 60, and consumers with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable to infection. "Symptoms of the illness can include fever and muscle aches as well as diarrhea, headache, stiff neck, confusion and convulsions, Colorado officials said," reports KTLA.