Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Contaminated Cantaloupes Claims 10 Lives

Health officials warn consumers against eating cantaloupes of unknown origin as hundreds fall ill in the U.S. and Canada.

Since October, a salmonella outbreak linked to contaminated cantaloupes has sickened hundreds of people in the U.S. and Canada, resulting in at least 10 deaths.
The cantaloupes implicated in this outbreak are two brands, Malichita and Rudy, grown in the Sonora area of Mexico and imported by Sofia Produce LLC and Pacific Trellis Fruit LLC.
Health officials have issued multiple recalls of whole and cut fruit, and on Dec. 15, Mexican health officials temporarily closed a melon-packing plant implicated in the outbreak.
Salmonella bacteria can spread if animal waste comes in contact with fruit in the field, and cantaloupes are prone to contamination due to their rough, bumpy rinds that make bacteria difficult to remove.
Food safety experts recommend rinsing whole melons in cool water and scrubbing them with a clean produce brush, and suggest that high-risk individuals avoid cantaloupe, especially pre-cut cantaloupe during an outbreak.