FDA’s perspective on an environmental assessment of a cantaloupe-growing farm linked to a multi-state Listeria monocytogenes outbreak, 2011.

In early September 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) learned of a multi-state outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes associated with exposure to fresh cantaloupe marketed from the Rocky Ford growing region of Colorado. A majority of illnesses were traced back to a single producer, Jensen Farms of Holly, CO. Following the firm’s voluntary recall of its cantaloupes, FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) network, working with state and federal regulatory partners, visited 3 different Jensen Farms cantaloupe-growing sites to conduct an environmental assessment (EA) to try to determine the source of (or contributing factors to) the outbreak. Agricultural production practices, and harvest and post-harvest operations were evaluated to identify potential areas of concern that may have fostered pathogen introduction and / or proliferation. The EA identified factors that may have contributed to the contamination of whole, fresh cantaloupe that caused the outbreak.