It happened from Mexicans shitting and pissing on the fucking
cantaloupes.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19000724
Illnesses and deaths from Jensen Farms cantaloupes are likely to
climb through October because of the long incubation period for
listeria, the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said Wednesday.
Food and Drug Administration officials on the same conference
call said they are "early" in their probe of where at Jensen
Farms the listeria infected cantaloupes. They are testing
everything from potential animal carriers of the bacteria to the
water supply and handling machinery.
At least 13 people have died out of 72 definitively linked cases
from the southeastern Colorado fruit, which was recalled Sept.
14. Listeria symptoms can appear up to two months after eating
the melons, and officials in many states are testing more
patients for suspected cases in the outbreak.
The FDA warned separately that other products may be recalled if
they find Jensen Farms melons were used in cut-up fruit trays or
other items. A Kansas company last week recalled about 600
pounds of fruit trays because of possible contamination.
CDC officials confirmed the outbreak is one of the deadliest
since the 1985 listeria outbreak from Mexican-style
unpasteurized cheeses, which killed more than 40 people in the
U.S. Listeria traced primarily to hot dogs killed 21 Americans
in 1998.
Listeria outbreaks can be more deadly than salmonella or other
foodborne illnesses because of the virulence to people who are
vulnerable, including the elderly and pregnant women. Up to 30
percent of people who grow seriously ill from listeria can die
in outbreaks.
CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden and other national officials
praised the outbreak response from the Colorado Department of
Public Health and Environment.
"I will highlight that this is an example of a very rapid
response from the state of Colorado," Frieden said.
Investigators recognized a cluster of new listeria cases early
and quickly traced the source back to a single farm, he said.
"We do anticipate that there will be a rising number of cases in
the days and weeks to come," he said.
The Jensen Farms cantaloupes — 300,000 cases of fruit that a
company spokeswoman said was about 40 percent of southern
Colorado cantaloupe — went to at least 25 states and were
shipped overseas as well. FDA officials said Wednesday they had
notified the other countries about the recall.
Confirmed listeria cases have come from 18 states.
Jensen Farms does handle other forms of produce, but most of the
harvest and shipping season has passed, and no other produce is
suspected of being tainted, officials said.
Though purchased cantaloupe has a short shelf life of about two
weeks, listeria is an unusual pathogen that continues to grow in
the refrigerator, Frieden said. He urged consumers to check any
cantaloupe still in their kitchens, and if they are unsure where
it came from, "throw it out."
Most recent cantaloupe-related outbreaks were caused by
salmonella.
"This outbreak has been a tough one for all involved. It's the
first time we've seen listeria contamination in whole
cantaloupes, and we're working very hard to determine how this
happened," said FDA commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg.