FDA Warns Cantaloupe Industry To Follow Best Practices

by Judie Bizzozero, Senior Editor

WASHINGTONThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Feb. 25 issued a letter to companies that handle cantaloupe, strongly encouraging them to follow agricultural practices that the agency and the produce industry know to be effective in protecting the safety of their product. The letter was issued as the U.S. cantaloupe growing and harvest season gets underway because the past two growing seasons were mired by deadly nationwide foodborne illness outbreaks linked to melons.

We want to underscore the importance of these practices for the cantaloupe industry in light of recent outbreaks and pathogen positive sample findings associated with fresh cantaloupes," said Michael Landa, director of FDAs Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, in the letter. We recognize that many cantaloupe industry organizations have taken actions to address food safety issues associated with growing, handling, processing, and distribution of whole and fresh-cut cantaloupe. We applaud efforts led by the cantaloupe industry that are aimed at enhancing cantaloupe safety."

The letter also informs the industry that FDA will be inspecting packinghouses over the course of the upcoming growing and packing season to, in part, assess current practices and identify conditions that may adversely affect the safety of cantaloupe.

In 2011, FDA issued a letter to the cantaloupe industry in response to a multistate foodborne illness outbreak of Listeria that sickened 147 people and killed 33 that was traced to contaminated melons from Jensen Farms in Colorado. A subsequent Energy and Commerce Committee report detailing the investigation into the Listeria outbreak in cantaloupes grown and processed at Jensen Farms revealed the use of new processing equipment and the decision to implement a packing and washing technique involving water without added chlorine were two probable causes of the introduction and spread of the Listeria contamination. The report also called into question third-party audits conducted at the facility.

During the 2012 growing and harvest season cantaloupes were the source of a multistate Salmonella outbreak that sickened 178 people and killed two people in 21 states. FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that samples of cantaloupe collected at Chamberlain Farms in Owensville, Ind., matched the DNA fingerprint of the Salmonella strain responsible for the outbreak.

The FDAs new letter also urged the cantaloupe industry to review its current operations in the context of its guidance titled "Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fruits and Vegetables"[5]  and its draft guidance titled Guidance for Industry: Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards of Melons," which together recommend good agricultural practices (GAPs) and current good manufacturing practices (CGMPs) that growers, harvesters, sorters, packers, processors, and shippers can undertake to address common risk factors in their operations.

Landa also wrote that because the recent outbreaks have been traced to domestic cantaloupe packinghouses, during the 2013 growing season, FDA intends to initiate inspections with a sampling component at a subset of the cantaloupe packinghouses in the United States.

The aim of these inspections is in part, to assess the current practices by this segment of the produce industry and to identify insanitary conditions that may affect the safety of cantaloupe destined for distribution to consumers.," he said. In the event of adverse findings, we will take action as needed to protect the public health. We will continue to target imported cantaloupes at the border for sampling and may engage in other surveillance and inspection activities as circumstances warrant to meet our public health regulatory mandate and responsibilities."