Consumers are urged to exercise heightened caution when consuming cantaloupe due to a recent surge in government warnings regarding a deadly salmonella outbreak associated with this fruit.
U.S. health officials have ordered sweeping recalls of potentially contaminated whole and pre-sliced cantaloupes over the past few weeks, in addition to urging consumers on Thursday to toss out any products containing the melon, recall notices from officials show. The flurry of warnings has prompted major grocery sellers such as Kroger, Trader Joe’s and Walmart to continue removing products containing the melon from store shelves.
Cantaloupes carrying bacteria have been identified in connection with at least 117 illnesses, leading to 61 hospitalizations and two fatalities across 34 U.S. states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency issued this statement on Thursday, emphasizing that these numbers might increase. Stay informed about the recent wave of cantaloupe recalls and learn how to determine whether you should keep or discard the fruit in your refrigerator. Consumers are urged
In response to a surge in severe bacterial infections associated with cantaloupes, the CDC is advising consumers to avoid pre-cut cantaloupe unless they are certain it is not from a distributor whose products have been recalled.
Prior to this guidance, health officials in the U.S. had already issued recalls for whole cantaloupes from various brands, including Malichita and Rudy. These recalls prompted several nationwide grocery chains to withdraw their own products containing pre-cut cantaloupes from the market. Most recently, Sprouts Farmers Market and Trader Joe’s heeded the warning and removed specific fresh-cut products, made from whole cantaloupes, from their shelves, as stated in an FDA notice on Wednesday.