Cantaloupes rotting in the Jensen Farms fields in Colorado
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
Potentially contaminated processing equipment and problems with packing and storage of whole cantaloupes at a Colorado farm likely led to the deadliest listeria outbreak in the United States in 25 years, which has so far claimed 25 lives in a dozen states…
Pools of water on the floor of the Jensen Farms packing facility in Granada, Colo., equipment that was not easily cleaned and sanitized and failure to cool newly harvested cantaloupes before sending them to cold storage all contributed to the outbreak, the first-ever listeria contamination blamed on whole melons, federal Food and Drug Administration officials said Wednesday…
Investigators tested fruit samples and equipment from Jensen Farms and confirmed the presence of four outbreak strains of the listeria monocytogenes bacteria confirmed in the illnesses and deaths.
The FDA said Jensen Farms, which is based in Holly, Colo., had recently bought used equipment that was corroded and hard to clean. For example, the equipment used to wash and dry cantaloupe showed signs of dirt and product build-up, even after it had been disassembled, cleaned and sanitzed, the FDA’s report said. The equipment had been previously used to process raw potatoes, officials said, which could have left listeria bacteria behind.
In addition, a truck used to haul culled cantaloupe to a cattle operation was parked near the facility and could have introduced contamination to the facility, investigators said. Low levels of listeria in the field also could have introduced the bacteria into the packing facility. And the design of the plant allowed stagnant water to pool on the floor. The FDA had not inspected the farm before the Sept. 10 session that first detected listeria problems…
The outbreak has claimed lives in a dozen states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. They include six in Colorado, five in New Mexico, two each in Kansas, Louisiana, New York and Texas and one each in Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Wyoming…
Four illnesses were related to pregnancy, including a newborn who fell ill. One miscarriage has been reported.
Rest assured our elected officials are on top of the situation. Between Congress, the White House, the bureaucrats within the FDA and the USDA — the company has been mailed a warning letter detailing violations.
As we consolidate our food production system to larger and larger facilities / factories, this sort of contamination will explode. We need to go back to local producers. In the past, when contamination occurred, it was rare and limited to a small region.
Shop at your local farmer’s market and save yourself!
DrT
Absolutely correct. Thanks for stating this so clearly. But it’s unfortunate that our banking finance and commodities sales system seems to favor the Mega-Farms, over the smaller family farms. But of course advertisers always show a small family run farm, as the sole provider of our fruitful bounty. Not a huge complex of acreage and processing plants. And if these mega-farms are fewer and far between, than the smaller farms. Why exactly isn’t the FDA able to keep their inspections more current? These outbreaks almost always come from the big operations, or processing plants. But the FDA is too busy hassling farmer Brown, to get around to checking them. And if it’s a matter of operating budget, then Congress has got to rethink its priorities. Less money earmarked for Teapot Museums, and more for food safety inspections. It makes you wonder if the food in the US Congress lunchroom come from some super-sanitary private farm? Because they sure don’t seem to worry about what the rest of us eat.
You don’t get it. The laws relating to business including ag business are determined by lobbyist and small farmers simply can’t pay off the right people.
Of course ag business is bleeding everywhere because way to many rules and regulations are written by ignoramuses that have barely set foot off concrete. They don’t have a clue but they do have authority.
Do-ill==speaking of ignoramuses, can you post a single applicable rule the FDA has that should be deleted/changed to avoid such an out break?
Failure to do so will be but one of another item on the long list of you spouting generalized far right talking points that have no reality/applicability in the real world.
Same with small vs large farms. No one knows which is more safe than another. Having opinions where none are valid is vapid, vainglorious, and viperously viturperative. I’d even say you should be ashamed but you aren’t capable of that, otherwise you wouldn’t be the rightwingnut you are, -and- it doesn’t start with a V.
Its the little things that count.
Glad to see that Congress, the White House, the bureaucrats within the FDA and the USDA are on top of the situation and have sent a letter. That’ll fix the problem.
Now now… we can’t get in the way of that corporation’s profit! That’s crazy talk, man!
Plan # 1 get rid of the EPA and FDA.
Plan # 2 make it a federal crime to report outbreaks. Refuse to buy political ads on any local station that muck rakes.
Plan # 3 Sprinkle it with some Bible.
Welcome to TeaLand.
We need the EPA and the FDA. We need them to be run by competent, well informed, pragmatic people working for the public good rather than green ideologues whose grasp on the real world is weak or somebody on the take from some business lobbyist.
I wonder if the gamma irradiation process kills Listeria? Not that it’s cheaper to do, than keeping the mega-farms cleaner. And not that it should replace stricter sanitary practices. Because I can just hear someone saying, “why should I bother to keep my factor clean, when the gamma will fry all the damn germs later?”
But it seems a terrible waste of all that food. That a suspect crop must be allowed to rot, because of some possible contaminate. Rather than their being an effective post-harvest treatment. Sort a last line of defense remedy, that could save the product. But the mainstream media isn’t even mentioning it. anymore. Not even in connection with these outbreaks. I’ll bet NASA was gamma treating all its astronaut dinners, just to be safe.
Last I heard there was still this anti-radiation crowd, opposing Gamma’s use. The same kind who also don’t trust microwave ovens or pasteurization. They believe this kind of radiation is the same, as nuclear bomb fallout. Which is wrong. Gamma radiation is simply a higher frequency of Electro-Magnetic radiation, than say radio and Tv broadcasts. It’s the next higher frequency range above X-Rays. And does not consist of any radioactive particles, that would remain behind and cause cancer.
But gamma does destroy the complex proteins, that are key to a germ’s life processes. And it’s been approved as safe to use on various foods. Because brief exposure doesn’t breakdown enough simple proteins in foods, to effect the nutritional value.
But the No-Nuke fanatics always claim otherwise. Likely because they want to feel important, in that they’ve slowed progress in some small way. A bunch of loony Luddites. Meanwhile Monsanto gets to keep mutating the food we eat, in order to profit from its patents. And you hardly ever hear opposition to that.
Somewhat agree with the teabaggers that the FDA needs to be disbanded. A little listeria culls the sheeple herd for stronger immune system!
Well Dallas, I agree with you.
First we throw off the regulations, then we feed the result to the investors.
I’ll just keep buying my produce at, and grown by, my CSA.
I eat at Whole Foods mostly. It’s a little more $ , but in the grand scheme of things it’s not much.
Having said that, today I ate Taco Bell (2nd time this year) for lunch. I had the steak taco which I assume is 99.9% steak.
Me thinks you assume to much.
October 20, 2011
“DENVER — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed Wednesday it has never inspected Jensen Farms during its two decades of operation, and an independent, voluntary audit the farm underwent in July failed to detect the hazards that are being blamed for the deadliest American outbreak from contaminated food in 25 years.”
http://www.chieftain.com/news/local/jensen-farms-never-inspected-by-fda/article_1b286ba2-fadb-11e0-b01d-001cc4c002e0.html
Damned regulators. This farm would have been just fine if they hadn’t wasted all that time on the voluntary audit.
Why is it you can’t elope?
Because she has unsanitary equipment!
But I agree that irradiation would most likely have avoided this outbreak. The problem is that it’s not just the microwave and pasteurization phobic that are against irradiation. It is a much, much bigger crowd. Just as silly. Just as wrong, but bigger. Understanding the difference between the process of irradiating food and nuclear fallout requires a basic understanding of science. Remember that we live in a country where the majority of people think there’s a magic uncle in the sky who farts thunder and pees rain. It won’t happen any time soon.
Meanwhile, at least this whole thing works toward the goal of reducing the surplus population, which, as long as it isn’t someone you know or care about, is a good thing.
Twenty five Americans died after eating cantaloupes. You see what happens when you eat your vegetables!
A few dollars in cleanliness can save millions, and lives.
Remember when doctors never washed their hands or their instruments?
It seems good old private industry is at it again, saving pennies by cutting back on simple solutions, and wasting millions as a result.
Government may be inefficient, but at least it knows how to wash equipment.