Did Treated Human Waste Contaminate Jensen Farms Cantaloupes with Listeria?
Parker Ag Services which sprays treated human waste on farm fields, including one near Jensen Farms, has been questioned by investigators of the multi-state cantaloupe listeria outbreak.
According to a story by 7NEWS The DenverChannel.com, investigators are trying to determine if treated human waste, known as biosolids, may have played a role in contaminating the Rocky Ford cantaloupes linked to the outbreak.
Parker Ag Services vice president Mike Shearp told state investigators that his company applied biosolids to a field “directly across from a Jensen Farms field" several years ago, according to the story. Jensen Farms told 7NEWS that it does not use biosolids.
"I have no concern at all because I know that there has never been an issue involving that, so I'm 100 percent confident that we’re not involved in this issue," Shearp told 7NEWS.
The use of biosolids as fertilizer is common and has a safe track record in the U.S., Colorado State University animal science professor Lawrence Goodridge said in the story. "In other countries, there have been outbreaks of food-borne pathogenic disease from biosolids."
The cantaloupe listeria outbreak is the first of its kind. As of September 20, a total of 55 people in 14 states have been infected with listeriosis. Eight of them have died. Symptoms of listeriosis can take as long as 70 day to appear after contaminated food is ingested. They include fever and muscle aches, often preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. In more severe cases, there can also be headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions, according to the CDC.
If you have legal questions about and illness, hospitalization or death associated with this outbreak, contact a listeria attorney at PritzkerOlsen P.A. for a free consultation.
