The owners fail
to perform appropriate cleaning, sanitizing, cooling and packaging
The owners
of a Colorado cantaloupe farm found to be the source of a 2011 Listeria outbreak that killed at least
30 people have been charged in relation to the incident. Eric and Ryan pleaded
not guilty at the hearing this week and were released with a trial scheduled
for 2 December. They called the outbreak a “terrible accident”.
A FDA and CDC
investigation determined that the defendants failed to adequately clean their
cantaloupes. Their actions allegedly resulted in at least six shipments of
cantaloupe contaminated with Listeria
monocytogenes being sent to 28 different states. The firm filed for
bankruptcy in May of last year after the incident which was officially recognized
as the worst foodborne outbreak in US modern history.
People affected: CDC tracked the outbreak-associated illness and
determined that people living in 28 states consumed contaminated cantaloupe,
resulting in 33 deaths and 147 hospitalizations.
One woman
pregnant at the time of her outbreak-related illness had a miscarriage and ten
additional deaths not attributed to listeriosis occurred among people who had
been infected by eating outbreak-related cantaloupe.
According
to the six-count Information filed under restriction this week and other court
records, the cantaloupe bore Listeria
monocytogenes and was prepared, packed and held under conditions which
rendered it injurious to health.
Court
documents state that the defendants set up and maintained a processing center
where cantaloupes were taken from the field and transferred to a conveyor
system for cleaning, cooling and packaging.
Cleaning equipment: The equipment should have worked in
such a way that the cantaloupe would be washed with sufficient antibacterial
solutions so that the fruit was cleaned of bacteria in the process. A joint
investigation found that the Jensen brothers allegedly changed their cantaloupe
cleaning system in May 2011.
Built to
clean potatoes it was installed and included a chlorine spray to clean the
fruit of bacteria but it was never used. The spray would have reduced the risk
of microbial contamination of the fruit. The incident was officially recognized
as the worst foodborne outbreak in US modern history.
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