Import alert leads to fresh, fresh-cut product recalls

On March 22, FDA issued a rarely used import alert on Honduran-grown cantaloupe that the agency believed was contaminated with Salmonella litchfield, an uncommon strain of S. enterica.

In early January, cases of salmonelosis began to appear and continued through mid-March, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Over the course of those three months, CDC identified 58 illnesses in 16 states and Canada, most of those occurring on the West Coast – 10 in California, 10 in Washington and 5 in Oregon. Based on the traceback and interviews with those sickened by the strain of salmonella, CDC identified melons as the contaminated agent – specifically those grown by the Honduran company Agropecuaria Montelibano. FDA responded to the outbreak by issuing the import alert, stopping the shipment of Honduran-grown cantaloupes into the United States.

However, the import alert was issued nearly two weeks after the last known cases of salmonellosis, which on a typical bell curve of case distribution would indicate that the outbreak was over. According to CDC, the 51 cases in the United States occurred between Jan. 10 and March 10, the last occurring 12 days before FDA issued the alert. With salmonellosis manifesting 12 to 72 hours after infection and the illness lasting four to seven days, according to CDC, the last cases were recovering by the time FDA stopped shipments of Honduran melons.

“An Import Alert has cascading consequences. Not only does it affect consumers, but it immediately changes the livelihood of thousands of farm workers, processors and shippers and in many cases the viability of companies and the way an entire nation’s products are perceived. As a result we have to take these things very seriously,” Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt wrote on his online blog following the alert.

“The cantaloupe problem is complicated further by the fact that Honduras is in the middle of (its) season. There is fruit in process and still on the vine.”

Following the FDA’s announcement, a team of investigators from FDA and CDC visited the Agropecuaria Montelibano fields and packing facilities to perform an on-site evaluation. According to the import alert, FDA would evaluate the company’s water quality in irrigation, packing and cooling; animal management and manure use; worker health and hygiene; sanitary facilities in the fields and packing sheds; and transportation. The investigation was completed on April 7, and biological testing detected salmonella, but the freetown strain and not the litchfield strain that made people sick. Even though a different strain was found, it doesn’t necessarily mean FDA implicated the wrong source, said Kathy Means, vice president of government relations for the Produce Marketing Association. PMA has been working with FDA since before the import alert was announced, and has been informing its members about the situation.

“The smoking gun is rarely if ever found,” Means said. “Even as we saw in the spinach outbreak, it was very difficult to find the germ because it had all been consumed or thrown away.”

Following the E. coli outbreak associated with green onions, FDA said it would come out with information as early as possible, but not earlier than the agency has enough information, Means said. When the wrong produce is implicated, it can have devastating effects, as seen when strawberries were implicated in a Cyclospora outbreak that was later linked to Mexican raspberries. But that doesn’t appear to be the case with the Honduran melons, because FDA conducted the traceback and epidemiological testing prior to issuing the alert, Means said.

During the course of the FDA and CDC investigation in Honduras, the agency found, “there might be systemic problems at Agropecuaria Montelibano that could have contributed to the outbreak.” The next step, according to FDA, would be to verify that the grower has taken corrective actions, although neither the source of contamination nor the “systemic problems” have been identified. Honduran melons from the grower were still banned as of mid-April, and the alert won’t be lifted until the company has verified “that the firm has taken the corrective measures necessary to ensure that it is growing, processing and transporting cantaloupes in a way that does not cause the melons to be adulterated, that its product meets U.S. standards for food safety and that specifically its cantaloupes do not contain salmonella.”

Alert Effect

The alert caused a ripple effect throughout the produce industry, with at least nine fresh-cut processors recalling product and a number of whole fruit distributors recalling their melons. The first recall came on March 22, one day after FDA announced the import alert. Charlie’s Produce Spokane received cantaloupes from Agropecuaria Montelibano that was cut and distributed to retail and foodservice establishments in eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana.

Other processors and distributors soon followed suit. Central American Produce, Pompano Beach, Fla., and T.M. Kovacevich, Philadelphia, recalled whole melons that were grown and packed by the Honduran company under the “Mike’s Melons” brand. Los Angeles-based Tropifresh recalled the same product the next day.

Based on the Tropifresh recall, one of its fresh-cut customers, Simply Fresh Fruit of Los Angeles, also issued a recall on March 27 of its branded fruit mix and cantaloupe chunks sold to retail and club stores as well as foodservice customers. Simply Fresh began recovering product on March 24 after the FDA announcement, and the company said no illnesses had been associated with its products.

Miami-based Bounty Fresh and Cincinnati-based Chiquita Brands International both issued recalls of whole melons on March 28. Bounty Fresh, which distributes whole melons under the Chestnut Hill Farms and Perfect Melon brands, also issued a nationwide recall on March 27.

The last processor to recall or withdraw product was Taylor Farms, which began recovering products containing cantaloupe on March 22 but formally announced its recall efforts on April 3. The company said its retail and convenience store products were all recovered within two days and foodservice distributors were notified immediately, but the recall was announced in case any consumers still had the products, which had a use-by date of March 30.

Honduran Melons

Agropecuaria Montelibano farms nearly 5,200 acres in Honduras, primarily cantaloupe with some acreage devoted to watermelons and honeydew. The company ships about 2.5 million boxes of cantaloupe to the United States each year and 450,000 boxes to Europe. An additional 1 million boxes of honeydew and 70,000 boxes of watermelon also are sent to customers in the United States and Europe.

The company has five packing plants, all of which are certified by EurepGap, Primus Labs Plant Audits and Agrisafe. The most recent Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices audits conducted at two of the company’s farms and packing sheds in January showed GAP compliance rates at 97 percent and GMP compliance of 96 percent at the Santa Rosa facility, and GAP compliance of 99 percent and GMP compliance of 98 percent at the Montelibano facility, according to the company.

The Honduran government and Agropecuaria Montelibano responded with criticism of the process, even going so far as to have the president of Honduras cut open a cantaloupe and eat it in front of television news cameras, according to CNN.

The grower responded by posting the results of its own microbiological tests, official inspection and certification documents and letters of support on its Web site, www.agrolibano.hn. The company claimed from the beginning that the cantaloupes from its fields are safe, and point to FDA and CDC’s lack of positive tests for Salmonella Litchfield as proof.

In 113 independent tests on the company’s melons – from Dec. 22 through March 13 – were all negative for salmonella. An additional 24 tests on packinghouse water, irrigation water, land and packinghouse personnel from Dec. 12 through March 14 also were negative for salmonella, according to the company’s statement.

Salmonella in Melons

Melons have been implicated in outbreaks before. Biofilm can build up on the netting of the skin, making it difficult to rid the exterior of contaminants. When the skin is cut, the contamination on the skin can get into the meat and can then be transferred to the consumer.

Melons have been associated with 28 outbreaks between 1994 and 2003, according to a study by Bowen and others published in 2006 in the journal Epidemiology and Infection. In 61 percent of those cases, a restaurant or caterer prepared the melons. In 14 percent of the cases the melons were prepared in a retail store and served through a salad bar or packaged and sold. In all, salmonellosis accounted for only 11 percent of the illnesses, behind E. coli and listeriosis. The study also reported that E. coli could survive longer in harsher conditions, but salmonella could still survive up to 22 days at 39º F on wounded rind, and penetration into the meat of the melons was enhanced by coinfection with mold.

Controlling the Crisis

The import alert provided processors and distributors with a chance to put their recall measures into action. Traceback and trace-forward protocols allowed processors to quickly determine if their raw product came from the Honduran grower, and if it did, where the finished product was shipped.

The industry learned a lot from the spinach crisis, Means said, but recalls should always serve as a reminder of how important a crisis management plan is. Processors and distributors should have crisis management plans in place to respond quickly and efficiently should an outbreak or import alert situation occur. Even if internal testing is negative for contamination, recalling or withdrawing the affected products will help protect a company should someone fall ill and will illustrate to customers how effective the crisis management and recall plans are.



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