FDA investigating multistate listeriosis outbreak associated with cantaloupes

FDA is working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health agencies to investigate a multi-state outbreak of listeriosis, according to a Sept. 13 statement from FDA.

At least 15 people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes have been reported in Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

State and local public health officials have interviewed most of the patients and discovered that the majority of them consumed whole cantaloupes, most likely marketed from the Rocky Ford growing region of Colorado.

FDA investigators along with state health officials are working quickly to determine where in the supply chain the contamination most likely occurred and where potentially contaminated product may have been distributed.

Both FDA and state public health officials have collected product and environmental samples. Laboratory testing is underway.