Why is Cantaloupe Frequently a Source of Foodborne Illness?
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Cantaloupe has recently been associated with several large outbreaks of foodborne illness in the United States. A Salmonella outbreak that, in March, sickened a dozen people in Oregon, Washington, California and Maryland, prompted a recall of almost 5,000 cartons of cantaloupe believed to be tainted with Salmonella. Now a Listeria cantaloupe outbreak is sweeping through Colorado, Nebraska and Texas has killed one person and hospitalized at least 11 others.
Foodborne illness outbreaks from cantaloupe aren’t new, but they are on the rise. “Since 1994, outbreaks of infections associated with cantaloupe consumption have been reported with increased frequency,” according to a 2005 study published by researchers at the CDC and the University of Georgia, Center for Food Safety and Department of Food Science and Technology.
Researchers reviewed all cantaloupe-associated outbreaks that were reported to the CDC between 1973 and 2003 and found that 28 outbreaks occurred, sickening 1,615 people, hospitalizing 57 and killing two.The pathogens involved were Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. Coli and Norovirus. There have been nine more outbreaks since 2003. Eight of them were caused by those same four pathogens. The current outbreak, which began in Colorado, is the first related to Listeria.
Documented cases of foodborne illness in cantaloupe are growing, but the problem is probably even greater than we know, researchers say.
"Although we report more than 1600 cases of illness associated with cantaloupe consumption in the United States and Canada during the past 30 years, the true burden of foodborne disease associated with cantaloupes is probably much greater.”
The increase in the number of outbreaks is consistent with an increase in outbreak reporting, an increase in consumption of fresh produce in general and an increase in cantaloupe consumption in particular, the report states. In the U.S., per capita consumption of cantaloupe increased from 5.8 lbs in 1980 to 11.3 lbs in 2002, researchers found.
All of the outbreaks studied over the 30-year period and the nine that have occurred since involve raw cantaloupe. Cantaloupes can become contaminated at various points from farm to table including pre-harvest, during harvest, packing, storage, processing and preparation. Researchers found examples of contamination at each of these points in their 30-year study.
