Tainted Cantaloupe Linked to 13 Deaths

The death toll from a listeriosis outbreak linked to contaminated cantaloupes has reached 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday, a development a food-safety group said made it the deadliest food-borne illness outbreak in a decade.


The 13 deaths include two in Colorado, one in Kansas, one in Maryland, one in Missouri, one in Nebraska, four in New Mexico, one in Oklahoma and two in Texas, the CDC said.

Caroline Smith DeWaal, food-safety director at the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest, said the CDC and Food and Drug Administration continue to investigate the outbreak and the number of deaths and illnesses associated with it could rise.

Jensen Farms of Holly, Colo., announced a recall of millions of cantaloupes on Sept. 14 and the CDC confirmed the next day that the cantaloupes were connected to the listeriosis outbreak.

Jensen Farms said it shipped the recalled cantaloupes to Illinois, Wyoming, Tennessee, Utah, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, New Mexico, North Carolina, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Distribution was wider though, according to an FDA spokesman who said the agency believes secondary wholesalers sent the cantaloupes to other states as well.

Listeriosis usually causes fever, muscle aches and diarrhea or other gastrointestinal problems, the CDC said. It can be fatal among high-risk groups of people, such as the elderly, those with compromised immune systems or chronic medical conditions like cancer. Listeriosis can cause miscarriage, stillbirth and serious illness or death in newborn babies.

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