E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSFederal and state health officials are warning consumers not to eat cantaloupe grown in southwestern Indiana after an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning that has led to 141 illnesses and two deaths in 20 states.
At least 31 people have been hospitalized in connection with infections caused by salmonella Typhimurium tied to contaminated melons, the Centers for Disease Control reported late Friday. Illnesses have been reported from July 7 to Aug. 4, although those that occurred after July 26 may not be included yet.
Investigators said cantaloupes grown in the southwestern Indiana region were the likely source of the outbreak. Kentucky laboratory officials isolated the outbreak strain from two melons collected at a retail location in that state. The deaths were reported in Kentucky.
Officials are continuing to investigate whether other types of melons may also be linked to the outbreak, the CDC said. Officials with the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration did not identify an Indiana farm where the suspect cantaloupes were grown, the distributors who handled them or the stores where the melons were sold. However, they said the farm in question has agreed to suspend sales for the rest of the growing season.
Fifty of the illnesses caused by the outbreak strain were confirmed in Kentucky, 17 were logged in Illinois and 13 in Indiana. Other states recorded fewer illnesses, with nine in Missouri; seven each in Alabama and Iowa; six each in Michigan and Tennessee; three each in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina; two each in California, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and one each in Georgia, New Jersey and Texas.
The outbreak comes a year after listeria-tainted cantaloupe grown in Colorado sickened at least 147 people and led to at least 30 deaths.
Earlier this month, Burch Farms, a North Carolina cantaloupe grower, recalled cantaloupe and honeydew melons because of listeria contamination.
Related stories:
Leave a Comment:
"Officials with the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration did not identify a farm where the suspect cantaloupes were grown, the distributors who handled them or the stores where the melons were sold"
What the Hell is that all about? Don'5t we have a right to know where not to buy our food?
I agree..but the GOP and the tea tards protect abusive companies.....so, according to Romney, its "none of our business".
@BTP...
The problem with your point is that Romney is not in charge today. So on whom does *today's* blame lie? And don't say Tea Party, Romney, or Ryan... none of whom are in charge.
How about Obama? I think that works.
@ Gil...
Seems rational and logical to me to hold the ones presently in power responsible for the actions or inactions of the US Government, in this case the CDC. It's way past time to stop blaming others and lead (i.e. take responsibility), or get out of the way.
Maybe it was Bush? Can we blame him? You know cantaloupes have been around for a long time.
Right On Gil 2872519 !.... there are two people dead and over a hundred sick .... and we aren't even informed of who?
If it were you or I that had committed a offense or were even accused of one ... our names would be in bold print and all over the afternoon news! Something stinks!
i don't eat the cantaloupes...from indiana...when was the last time you heard of anybody from indiana doing something that was'nt just nasty...LOL...
Let me see if I can explain this issue to you. If you were the owner of the farm and you were assumed to be where the outbreak occurred, and the public was notified, you would have to close your doors forever. You are assuming this farm did something wrong, which they may have, but that needs to be determined which often it is hard to do. By releasing the name of the farm, which may be a farm with zero issues previously, would absolutely shut them down forever and many jobs that are needed would be gone.
I am in the food business. Food safety is tricky, very tricky and rarely does anybody intend to do harm. Yes, sometimes careless, or uninformed, or just not diligent enough.
Life is not perfect. I know libs think it should be, but accidents do happen. All those people working on that farm will feel enormous sadness that they are connected to these melon illnesses and deaths.
Try to think compassionately about human beings an instead of rushing to judgement.
theboys: So what is the problem with telling us what markets are selling the stuff:
"Fifty of the illnesses caused by the outbreak strain were confirmed in Kentucky, 17 were logged in Illinois and 13 in Indiana. Other states recorded fewer illnesses, with nine in Missouri; seven each in Alabama and Iowa; six each in Michigan and Tennessee; three each in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina; two each in California, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and one each in Georgia, New Jersey and Texas".
Do you have a problem with that? And do you not think that the market's can't figure out where the contaminated product, which is causing them sales, waste and possible law suits is coming from?
I may not know from what farm the cantaloupes came from, but I'm sure the market purchases do and I doubt that they will risk lawsuits and product waste dealing with that farm again. The farm will take a beating, one way or another.
BTW: If I buy contaminated food, and get sick from it, the seller of that food
Sorry -- got cut off;
a supermarket, resaurant, etc, is absolutely liable for damages, if it sells bad or contaminated food, even he had no idea that the it was spoiled or contaminated. That is why they shy away from suppliers that have bad reputations.
Gil,
Yes, but while the CDC may have a target source of contaminated produce, they probably lack proof. Do you remember the Atlanta security gaurd who was identified as the subject in the Atlanta Olympics park bombing? All the hell that man went through, only to be told sorry, we made a mistake over a month later. Reporting a source in error still leaves bad food in the chain, and can destroy a good farm. Btw, could even be a communal set of producers, with no idea of which producer had the bad product.
You Tea (Nut) Baggin', Right Bangers better wake up! Take off those "Rose Colored" glasses and pull your Monsanto genetically engineered, corn fed polluted grey matter brains, mired deep within the, "Rich Mitt RoMONEY and Paul "Med-i-could careless" Ryan hoopla hole. Paul and Mittens are for business--BIG BUSINESS, like: FDA, USDA, BIG PHARMA, MONSANTO, OIL and GAS. RoMONEY and RyCUTS will suck the marrow out of small businesses; buying them out (stomping them out) and resource out those willing to bend over barrels. Romney built his business all right; built by "BLOOD MONEY" of killers. Do yourselves a favor and research: Bain, Blood Money, Death Squads, El Salvador.
"You didn't build it." You damn right. Romney DIDN'T build it--El Salvador Death Squads built RoMONEY's Bain (Blood-Ain't-It-Nothin' but Blood Bath") Company.
RoMONEY is like Palin--only with a tie. And Ryan? Also like Palin; picked to "resuscitate " a drowning GOP platform.
McCain was...well, a War Hero and to me, will ALWAYS BE, a WAR HERO. But Palin was McCain's and the GOP's downfall. Palin was, feminine, smart (?) and then she opened her mouth. And again. And again. Lord! Women wanted to stuff a rag down her throat; young and old, black and white and everything in between. And the guys? The guys used Palin to keep women out of politics.
Lucky for the ladies there are the strong, smart, beautiful and courageous women willing to tighten up their boot straps, roll up their sleeves, take off their subservient gloves, step forward and make men flinch, step back, shut their mouths and listen.
And Lyin'...er, Ryan? Just like McCain, RoMONEY chose a "pretty." And just like the GOP diehards-- superficial, plastic and shallow, "does it" for them. Lyin' Ryan wants more "Military Spending." On what? Red Neck Patriots are thinking, "Security." Gear for our MEN (oh, and the women, too...whatever.)
But it's not the "Troops." It's, BIG BUSINESS AND THEIR CONTRACTORS who "get the money.
Wake up America...and you too, GOP, TeaBagNuts! You that identify with the, "Few, the Proud and the Brave." Ya'll are being "whipped." And not in a good way. You're being "corralled" like the hormone, toxic shot-up beef, pork, chicken, lamb and fish you stuff down your throats. And who is banking on your "patriotism"? BIG BUSINESS of the WORLD. Not the "Mom and Pop" businesses, nor the, "I did it on my own" small businesses. Here's a News Flash: NO ONE ever does it on "Their Own." Somewhere along the way, a "Teacher" helped you, motivated you; or some other "Mentor" encouraged you to "be all you can be." Your parents paid for your schooling, or supported you in some way; maybe your church sponsored you, or you "wooed" your way into a "rich" aunt's or uncle's will or good blessings. And maybe even a business sent you to school while you earned a paycheck on the basement floor of, "go-for-this-and-go-for-that."
Either way, YOU and everyone who starts a business, has the backing of SOMEONE or someone's MONEY, or someone's FRIEND of SOMEONE, or a BANK lent you money. You DID NOT do it on your own.
And know this: If you vote for RoMONEY and RyNOT-stiff-the-old out of Med-i-could-care-less, Ryan... you will have chosen…UNwisely.
‘Scrub And Wash’
Health officials say consumers can also take precautions by scrubbing the skin of fruit and washing it underneath cool running water.
Cleaning the outside of the fruit is important because as soon as you cut into it, anything on the outside can contaminate the inside.
(and much more reader friendly than the tirade posted above.) 8)
Ever since these outbreaks began I not only wash the outside of melons of all kinds, I use mild bleach and soap water, scrub and rinse well. I began thinking about all the migrants that help harvest our foodstuffs with no port-a-potties or hand washing stations and remembered my mother telling me to always wash the vegatables before preparing. Even our own.
Fortunately I hate cantaloupe. The only melon I'll eat is watermelon. I agree with you, though. ALL fruit and vegetables get thoroughly washed before consumption or preparation in my kitchen. I always use a bleach solution to clean counter tops and cutting boards as well.
Bill Marvell @2.11: The reason for the extensive quote @2.9 was to show the prolific distribution of the affected cantaloupes throughout the U.S. We should have the right to know what food chains are selling them. Right now, I, and many others, will not buy a cantaloupe from anyone. So the entire cantaloupe market takes a hit, which is bad for all cantaloupe farmers.
I agree that it may be wise to hold off naming the farm, but telling me that it is from "ABC Farm" means nothing anyway. It is rare that I see a label telling me where the fruit came from.
The markets that sell them are, however, different. They have been pin pointed. I want to know where I should and should not buy cantaloupe and the farmers who produce quality cantaloupe I am sure would appreciate that.
The tea party is not in charge? What planet do you live on? The GOP Congress, which the tea party runs has been cutting the budget based on their view that the government has NO PURPOSE. I have an idea. HIRE MORE INSPECTORS! This would be the government creating jobs, which is said to be impossible, and would save billions in lost commerce by preventing contaminated food from reaching the market. How many innocent small farmers have already been put out of business due to contamination scares that seem to happen in regularity these days? I love cantaloupe, but I refuse to buy one because I have no idea where it came from or where it has been, and I don't want my family getting sick.
SanitaryCheck: Lets be blunt !! Who do you think is sh**ting in the fields?
SanityCheck is correct.
The GOP Tea Party on both the federal and state levels have reduced the budgets for food inspection, and as a result, this has reduced compliance for agriculture producers to constantly employ sanitation in their processes that meet minimally acceptable bacterial count standards.
People get hospitalized and DIE because of this deregulation and defunding of health and safety. As consumers, they cannot simply choose another grocery store, farmers market or supermarket to shop for their produce, because they are DEAD.
And if you are hospitalized, how much of your family budget has now been decimated for years, because of the amount of the medical bills that your private health insurance WON'T cover?
I have seen this tragic debacle of bacterial food poisoning happen to many states and their citizens since the first term of the G.W. Bush Administration. So long as there are right-wing managements that want to cut corners in the name of the bottom line, and defy implementation of government health and safety standards, these tragedies will continue.
rradiko: @ 2.19: I will not argue with you or Sanitary as to whether the budget for food inspection has been cut under the Obama Administration. I do not know.
I will say that I'm bewildered that, if such a cut occurred, it was the fault of the Tea Party or the Republicans. In Obama's first two years such a cut could never have gotten through without Democratic support. In the last year and 3/4s, although Congress could pass anything it wanted to, it could not get to the Senate floor without Harry Reid putting it up (which he has consistently refused to do with virtually everything coming out of the House) and without a majority of the Democratic Senate approving it. So, I fail to get your connection.
As to a "food inspection" budget cut, although I admittedly do not know, I believe that it would irrelevant to cantaloupes or other produce. I do not believe that food inspectors test produce for non-observable diseases. They scan a load of produce for obvious signs, mold, etc. but do not send random samples to the CDC for testing unless there is an incident such as the present one. So a budget cut, in my opinion, is not an issue.
Which brings me back to my point. Tell us where NOT to buy cantaloupes. Help us and the cantaloupe growers who maintain quality control. The whole cantaloupe industry should not be stigmatized. Obama could do that with one simple Executive Order or maybe just a phone call. Why he hasn't is beyond me. Maybe he is to busy campaigning to have any concern for the cantaloupe industry or its employees.
I think today might be a good time to start trying some of those other other melon varieties found in the produce section of big supermarkets.
Listeria can be found in many food resourses & usally spread from cross contamination, poor hygiene of farm workers to store employees is a common cause the cross contamination. It can even be spread at home when one works with raw meat or unpasturized bovine juice then touches raw products, again, without washing their hand in between.
Oh and lets not forget all that natural fertilizers from beast of burdens being spread directly on to the plants because EPA control of crops.
An outbreak that large is not from store employees or farm workers (store employees responsible for a 20 state outbreak, really?) It's from contaminated irrigation water from the overcrowded corporate cattle or pig farm upstream from the vegetable grower. Keep adding more people to the planet whereby corporate farming is the answer to feeding them and this problem will just keep gettting worse.
Missy--ABSOLUTELY! Especially the part about adding too many people to the planet making corporate farms the answer.
I live in Central MO and TYSON has a plant in my home town that is routinely cited for polution/fish kills for DUMPING tainted water. Their CAFO's surrounding are so rank sometimes you GAG when you drive anywhere that happens to be down wind.
And while I'm sure everyone would like to believe inspections by the Government would stop this, NOT when the government doesn't ENFORCE those laws.
Which our CURRENT government is pretty open about NOT doing.
Even more aggravating is the fact that companies know when an inspector is going to show up!!! Well duhhhhh.......that's ridiculous!!!!
Missy,
You got it right!
Indiana is a red state, that'a good, right?
Indiana is a orange state ;; from the center of all them cantaloupes to the state line...that's bad wrong...
Salmonella in cantaloupes sickens 141, kills 2
We have had more problems like this since the Mexican invasion. When we whites and Black picked crops.......no problem. Corporations bowed to the LOWER wages offered by the Third world workers, and this is what they got.
I was a foreman in high rise construction. We had elevators and more than enough portable toilets. Where did we find buckets on patios with fecal matter minus toilet paper? On the patios! Imagine what is happening in the fields!
Cowpoke
Grow your own.
Have you ever worked in the fields from sun-up to sun-down with only simple out- houses or trees and no running water or hand dips? Easy to condemn others
Cowpoke--I hear you--there was a set of condo's built barely 15 miles from me, the construction company using illegals, not paying any taxes, etc, and the way they got reported finally was a 'nosy person' was waling around the place looking at the 'new builds' and noticed that in several places there was poop between the wall joists! The assumption being that when the sheet rock went up, that would just be ENCLOSED in the wall!
When the state investigated, they prosecuted the builder, over a million in fines and back taxes AND he can never get a license in the state of MO.
Those condos STILL (6 years later) sit emptly, even the ones that were already complete. If the builder would break the laws on hiring illegals, and paying taxes, what OTHER laws/building codes would he violate? And would YOU take a chance on that?
My guess is that someone will eventually tear them down and start from scratch.
When have we ever seen us white folk pick crops? I was in an industry that was dominated by illegals. Why? Because us white folk are some of the laziest idiots ever. The reason why there is such high unemployment is because the unemployed are obviously not desperate enough to go out and get the job that are available (ie labor). Illegals do the jobs that we are unwilling to do like lay flooring, hard labor. I see a lot of people complaining about the illegals taking jobs away from the whites. Well until I see you white people do something about it like applying for those jobs shut up and leave it alone (yes I am white). oh yeah and I absolutely blame the government for it because if they didn't give such generous unemployment benefits them maybe we would get off our lazy asses.
The problem there, Jessica, is that those illegals are willing to work for slave wages, whereas the white person wants an honest days pay for an honest days labor. The illegal doesn't have a problem accepting $3.00 an hour because there's no taxes taken out - it's all cash money under the table. The white person gets minimum wage, minus taxes, plus the fact that there's now a paper trail for the IRS to follow and so the employer isn't pleased.
Send 'em all home now - every last one of them to whence they came, whether it's Mexico or Mozambique. Get rid of them we'll fill the jobs. We've done it before, we can do it again.
And, no, I don't have a problem doing hard laborious work. I'm 34 now and have been working manual-labor type jobs since I was 16. There's a lot more like me out there than you think. We're not all lazy slugs like yourself.
Jessica1424611, I'm a "white folk" and I've picked my share of cotton as did the 8 other white kids I visited with in the summers. Did you know that there were sharecroppers who were white? Grow up and study a little local history about farms and farming.
But we don't need the Food And Drug Administration! Cut their funding! It is God's will if you die of food poisoning!
The FDA did NOTHING to catch this.
Why would they. They are in the pockets of powerful chemical companies that control our food chain.
The big problem with Democratic projectionists is that the Obama administration has spent the most amount of money with the least amount of results than any previous administration. We will not have a dime for any agencies, so before you start carping about the Republicans please tell us how maintaining the path we are on will lead us to a better protected society. I am sixty and have no skin in this game so regardles of who gets elected I am pretty well set and from a neutral point of veiw I think Obama is so far over his head all he can do is make promises. Romney I do not trust, but after Hair Reed opened his pie hole I would rather vote for Romney. As far as the issue about melons goes, I like them but I think the salmonella is more of result of so many more people and the same amount of land. I do agree with A Clock Work Orange
Crab, why don't you go to a policical article to spew? And no, I did not read your entire post. Boring beyond words.
Big farms equal, chemicals, poor standards and illness. You can blame it on the migrant
workers but the reality is Monsanto chemical farms growing cheap pesticide products
( so called food ) is killing us and these big chemical companies have bought and paid for our goverment.
. So its going to continue. Buy from your local small farmer. Quality and
health versus quanity and cheap unhealthy products.
Its not about your health for those that are supposed to have our best interest , its again about corperate greed controlling our food sources.
Dear mmb-1, thank you. American thinking is so out of whack it scares me. Thanks for putting the blame where the blame deserves. John in CO
Mitten!!
A year or so ago, people in France, Germany, and other countries were getting sick on organic bean sprouts; the problems exist there too. And I got terribly sick in France on some bad sea food on one of my 30 trips there, so don't tell me Western Europe is free from food problems. As far as cantaloupes are concenred, this appears to be a recurring problem. I do not eat them anymore, preferring honeydew and Crenshaw melons. Why is it always cantaloupes?
William,
Two big factors, inadequate kitchen sanitary procedures and the nature of the cantalope rind.
First, a cantalope out to be thoroughly scrubbed with soap and brush and patted dry. Some suggest letting it set for three days, but that really doesn't accomplish much, as salmonella can live for when exposed to air. A clean cutting board, on a clean counter and a clean knife. After bisecting the melon and removing seeds, with a clean spoon, all cuts should be made from the inside out, knife cleaned between each cut. It is better to derind the melon in the kitchen than serve with the rind on. Kitchen cross-contamination is the largest source of salmonella poisoning for all food. Which is why restaurants keep fresh foods physically separated from foods which must be cooked.
Second, unlike smooth rind melons, the ribbing of the cantalope provides lots places to sequester dirt and bacteria. And the actual rind itself is very thin, allowing easier contamination of the meat through the rind.
And Mitt Romney and the corporations want to do away with rules and regulations? First, they try to bankrupt this country with illegal bank procedures, and now they're trying to poison us through our food source. Somehow I think all of you are going to regret the 40 steps backwards in to child labor, indentured service and migrant farmers.
There have been problems with cantaloupes for years, and it is not getting any better . . .
As I recall, it started with cantaloupes from Honduras and Mexico, and then there were problems in a few other Latin countries (mostly Central America), but now it has switched to being a problem with cantaloupes grown in the US . . .
During this time, one of the things which happened is that Monsanto acquired Seminis, which at the time was a privately held Mexican company that was the largest supplier of agricultural seed in the world and most likely continues to be the largest supplier of seed on this planet, where it certainly is a curious "coincidence" that the problems with cantaloupes started soon after Monsanto acquired Seminis in 2005, which you can verify by doing a search on "cantaloupes" at the FDA Food website and then checking the dates of (a) import alerts, (b) import refusals, and (c) recalls, market withdrawals, and safety alerts . . .
http://www.seminis.com/global/us/AboutSeminis/Pages/History.aspx
http://www.fda.gov/Food/default.htm
At the same time, Monsanto increased its efforts to adulterate and to contaminate every native species and variety of corn and maize in Mexico, where for the folks who have not connected the dots the fact of the matter is that Mexico is what one accurately can call "the cradle of corn and maize" on this planet, and slowly but surely Monsanto is eliminating the virtual festival of naive species and varieties of corn and maize that grow in Mexico, where it is not unusual for a particular variety to be unique to just a few essentially "family fields", where the seed for the next year is saved from the current year, which these families and neighbors have been doing for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years . . .
Monsanto wants to make it all "Roundup Ready", which is the fancy name for "Spawn of Satan", so yet another aspect of the fruit, vegetable, root, grain, and other botanical product adulteration, contamination, toxification, and poisonification (where the last two "words" are an homage to former President George W. Bush's stellar ad hoc ability to coin new words that sound like real words) involves the possibility that Monsanto via its Seminis subsidiary now is actively transforming the raw seed supply of this planet using its virtual festival of patented and clandestine Frankenscience technologies toward the goal of changing the fundamental genetic algorithms of the entities called "human beings" to create a new species based on patently demented Darwinian metaphysics . . .
And it is not just Monsanto that is doing this, because there are other Frankenscience companies which currently are working in close cooperation with the career bureaucrats at the FDA and USDA to achieve the same goal, and in this general respect, it is important to understand that E. coli bacteria in particular are one of the favorite vectors for introducing transformations in the fundamental genetic algorithms of all organisms, although there are other favored bacteria, viruses, and prions that are used for this purpose, where the importance of E. coli in this respect is that it provides a clue to what might be "clandestine genetic algorithm transformation events" . . .
Of course, at present this is just one of many hypotheses here in the sound isolation studio, and the fact of the matter is that I know nothing about anything, since above all else I am unencumbered by knowledge, but so what . . .
So what!
For all I know, the Frankenscience companies have not actually adulterated all the corn and rice on this planet; approximately 70 percent of vegetables--including tomatoes which actually are fruits but by Act of Congress and the rule of law are vegetables--sold in grocery stores are not Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) or Genetically Engineered (GE); and for example, according to the FDA and USDA Starlink corn and LL601 rice now are Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS), so why worry about it being released "unintentionally" into the wild where it basically is everywhere, which certainly has nothing to do with Frito-Lay Doritos now staying in your stomach for 12 to 18 hours, since your stomach (a) has no idea how to digest the corn and (b) cannot decide whether to eject it forcibly or to just let it sit there for a while where it forms a bolus, really . . .
[NOTE: "Maize" is a fancy, essentially foreign language word for "corn", but it includes other variations like wild bird seed, and so forth, and some folks think that using "maize" rather than "corn" makes them appear to be intelligent, as in "Would anyone like some maize on the cob?" . . . ]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_maize
http://independentsciencenews.org/health/gmo-safety-and-ll601-rice/
Really! :-o
Summarizing, cantaloupes and strawberries have been OFF the Baldenario Approved for Novices Menu™ for years, and it is vastly unlikely that they will be on the menu anytime soon, but on the good side the large and long, light-green and dark-green striped, seeded watermelons from Texas this year are stellar due to unusually hot and dry weather, and these are the best watermelons in at least a decade, and they definitely are ON the Baldenario Approved for Novices Menu, for sure . . .
For sure! :-D
Dear Baldenario. You overestimate people's attention spans. Anything over a paragraph will not be read, if that's your intention. Get to the point more quickly even if you have good ideas.
Agree 100% John Denver. Some people just don't get it.
I believe he has no point ! and thats just fuc-en finer than frogs hair for me ...I enjoyed those words of wit! (but don't vote for Mit !)
Thanks so much Baldenario for the vast amount of info you provided..thanks for taking time out of your day to explain what's going on. I learned from it, so it wasn't a waste of your time & it's most appreciated!
There is more detailed information on the GMO/GE conspiracy to pollute all the native maize and corn in Mexico at these links, and while there is a moratorium on official use of GMO/GE maize and corn in Mexico, the problem as explained in vast detail in the second link is that Frankencorn is being released surreptitiously in Mexico, really . . .
http://www.naturalnews.com/031295_Mexico_GMO_corn.html
[NOTE: This is the link to the Organic Consumers Association report "Mexico Corn Contamination: How Monsanto & University of California Tried to Silence Dr. Ignacio Chapela" . . . ]
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17843.cfm
Really! :-o
No one, in Mexico or elsewhere is growing native maize as a crop. It is not even clear what native maize is.
New Technology emeging that could prevent this from happening. Molecular imprinted polymers.
Hedonisimos,
Or the same "New Technology" could just as well make it worse.
We were hit here pretty good in Colorado before and people were saying to leave the poor farmers alone that it was bad for business. That's a typical Right Wing belief. What's a few deaths and illnesses if people make money. Do you really want the only organization that watches out for us, the government, out of business affairs? This ludicrous idea that for some reason if we reduce regulations that corporations and businesses will suddenly "regulate" themselves is so preposterous it makes me question the thinking abilities of many Americans. People are dying from these things.
The problem was in the dirt - human waste - look it up. Gee think about where the human waste comes from in the fields - illegals DUH.,.....
frankiescoffey,
So the same bugs in all that dog, cat, horse, deer, and bird scat don't affect anything? Not to mention the insects. Besides, we are talking salmonella, not E.coli.
I guess we have to make future purchases from Mexico.
I rather expect, folks, that this has absolutely nothing whatever to do with politics. The blame is more likely to reside with the drought and irrigating with pond water. Usually Indiana gets more rain.
It has everything to do with POOR HYGEINE OF THE FARM WORKERS.
Namely @!$%#ting in the field and getting crap on your hands and then picking fruit.
Yumma, huh!?!
Nothing like cheap illegal labor.
Thank you, you must remember the news from colo. It came from human waste. from the illegals working in the fields and pooping whereever, I ask people when did the United States begin to look so trashy? They throw their McDonalds bags and cups, beer bottles out of their cars and nobody says or does anything about our litter laws. It's time people or we are going to lose what Freedoms we have left, because of the left and the right so DC can get rich. Makes me ill.
Whooping cough
My family raises watermelons and cantaloupes in southwest Indiana. I grew up on the melon farm, but I've since moved on. We've never hired illegal aliens or Mexicans. We've always hired local high school aged youth or younger men to work the farms. The only thing that has changed since I grew up on the farm is the chemicals that are used. Somehow, those chemicals are fostering the outbreaks of listeria. I'm not a biologist or a chemist, but I know melons and how they're grown, and the herbicides and/or GMO seeds are the only differences between now and 40 years ago.
Can someone please send a few to Willard Romney and the entire fox news cast
I would much rather see a delivery made to the whitehouse and the Senate.
I'm everywhere.
I think it's all part of Obama's plan....make more people sick so they'll vote to keep free healthcare. I say, stick the natural melons of the female variety. I've had a few nasty ones, but so far, none have made me sick!
DKJ4
Yes...dip@!$%#. read what I wrote AGAIN for the first time! Someday when you or a family member are sickened....remember my writing. America....a country built upon the backs of Anglos was a proud country. Not anymore....because of limpwrists like you.....
Remember the Alamo.
Cowpoke
Ladies and Gentlemen....Please always wash your fruits and vegetables, scrub your melons, cantaloupes, etc. very, very well! When you cut into these things, you have now sliced bacteria and or other contaminants into your thick skinned fruits. Not washing these things is the reason why these bacterias or other contaminants can get into the fruit! I know this because of an agricultural background.
The government will kill you any way they can. They are working on depopulating the world.
After the crops fail from the drought caused by the aluminum nano particles released into the atmosphere by chem trails the government will release the black plague which will kill billions of people world wide.
Prepare to be be killed off by the goverment.
After the black plague is released the government will declare martial law and send people to FEMA concentration camps to have your head chopped off.
so are you preparing for that?
Jeffrey
Funny!
Thanks for the laugh.
I remember that my mother always scrubbed cantaloupes with a scrub brush and soapy water and I do too. She said that the melons lie on the ground where animal excrement fertilizer and who knows what else is used. If it isn't scrubbed then the dirt from the outside is spread throughout the melon when it is sliced open. Think!
This is a direct result of the executive order issued by President Ronald Reagan that froze the number of full time federal emoployees at their level in 1982(?). To the best of my knowledge, that order has yet to be rescinded! That is why the increase in contaminated food, drugs, consumer products, etc. The agencies charged with doing the inspections do NOT have the resources ( i.e. PEOPLE) needed to do the job with which they are charged. HOORAY for smaller government, heh? This is what happens when there is noone to do the oversight of the GREEDY bastards in businesses and financial institutions. GO REPUBLICANS!!! Gutless Democrats!!
with Mitt and his running mate what to cut cost...they want the companies to handle their own food safety...sure we can trust them...
Boy aren't you barking up the wrong tree Michael. Or are you just another liberal attack dog speaking their same BS lies.
So here is the truth. At the end of this year under the order of Obama's administration the food safety program of the FDA is to be eliminated. That means no more inspectors at meat plants. No more inspectors checking produce or other food stuffs being shipped in.
That also means we can expect more contaminated food from china for our pets. Thanks Obama just what we need more poisoned Americans.
What does Romney have to do with the illegals pooping in the fields with their diesease filled poop?
frankiescoffey,
What does Romney have to do with the illegals pooping in the fields with their diesease filled poop?
You poor, poor person. This is a terrible thing to say and does not do a thing to elevate humanity above gross generalizations.
Toni,
Frankie is just being jealous or envious of people with virtually no rights, working for minimum (or less than minimum wages for farm workers) wage, who must constantly move because the crop usually lasts less than a week at one location.
For some reason, he is pre-occupied with their bodily waste, but thinks nothing of the tons of beef and hog waste spread on the same fields by local farm operators, whose day's labor involves driving a tractor. While the part-time or contracted labor starts their day stooping and stay that way for 10hr.
@LEFTISTREPORTING:
You wrote this:
Writing something does not make it true . . .
There is a bit of overlap regarding the inspection of imported vegetables, fruit, nuts, meat, fish, and so forth, where the FDA certainly has a key role but vastly limited resources . . .
However, meat, poultry products, and egg products are inspected by the USDA:
[SOURCE: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/Import_Information/index.asp ]
The role of the FDA is explained in this quote:
[SOURCE: http://www.hagstromreport.com/news_files/051811_foodsafety.html ]
"The Hagstrom Report" also provides this information about consolidation efforts:
[SOURCE: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/01/omb-says-food-agency-consolidation-is-next/ ]
Instead of the FDA being eliminated, the information I found indicates that the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service is slated to merge with the FDA's food import inspection role, so that instead of having disjoint imported food inspections, the inspections will be done by one agency, service, or whatever one wants to call it . . .
The current system is less than stellar, and the new system--if there is a new system--has the potential to be good, bad, or indifferent . . .
Overall, I think it makes sense to have one inspection service for imported food products, and this tends to favor better imported food inspections . . .
If the imported food inspection services are consolidated, and if the new consolidated imported food inspection service works like the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), then I think it will be a huge step forward, but whether it works depends primarily on the details . . .
The important things are (a) more authority and (b) increased resources, so it depends on these two things, but overall the reality tends to be the Republicans want to leave everything to private business while Democrats want the work to be done by the federal government, and in the grand scheme of everything imported food is more likely to be inspected if the work is done by the federal government, which is just common sense, because everything that currently is rejected for import due to safety and health problems already was "inspected" by the private companies who manufactured and produced it, which is all one needs to know about the quality of private food inspection and quality control . . .
Consider "chicken jerky treats" for pets, where there are indisputable problems, but the three major corporations who have this stuff manufactured stuff offshore in China are adamantly denying that there is any problem . . .
The FDA in another of its roles is working to isolate the problem, and part of the reason is that current rules and regulations essentially prohibit the FDA from doing anything until there is absolute indisputable proof . . .
The companies continue to manufacture and to import the toxic "chicken jerky treats" and the FDA continues to look for the absolutely indisputable cause of pet deaths, and it has become a surreal type of demented game, since the FDA simply does not have the authority it needs to stop it . . .
Explained another way, if the Republicans are in charge, then inspections of imported food will decrease dramatically, which does nothing to increase food safety, but if the Democrats are in charge, then inspections of imported food will increase, and this will improve the safety of the food supply, really . . .
Really! :-o
@LEFTIS REPORTING: So, all in all, the democrats and republicans are to blame, right?