Cantaloupe outbreaks: What consumers can do

With cantaloupe grown in southwestern Indiana under recall after being linked to two deaths and more than 140 illnesses from salmonella, on the heels of a recall of a North Carolina cantaloupe recall for possible listeria contamination, and last year’s deadly cantaloupe outbreak in Colorado, what’s a consumer to do?

The netted skin of cantaloupe is what makes it susceptible to harboring pathogens, which can arise out of cantaloupes being grown in the ground or result from human contact or contamination post-harvest.

“Because of the webbing, there are too many places for bacteria to get in and avoid contact with fruit and vegetable spray and antimicrobial treatments,” said Dr. Trevor Suslow, Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Vegetable Crops at UC Davis. “If you can get them there, it can kill them. There are just too many places to avoid contact.”

Most companies treat cantaloupe before it goes to market. Some use a product like BioSafe Systems’ SaniDate. Made from peroxyacetic acid (peroxide and acetic acid), it’s a nonchlorine sanitizing option.

Suslow said he and his colleagues conducted research on SaniDate because “we knew that the peroxyacetic acid is effective.”

“Others (processors) use, of course, chlorine, and there are others that are moving toward a combination of a thermal treatment and antimicrobial, trying to maximize the elimination of any contamination that might be present on the surface,” Suslow said.

Anticipating that consumers are going to be wanting to know what they can do to enhance food safety at home, Suslow said he and fellow researchers tested a household spray version of SaniDate,

“If you really wanted to go to the extreme, our data would say if you spray and soak the cantaloupe with the solution and let it sit there for 10 minutes or so, you’re going to get 99.9 percent (of bacteria) and you probably would be fine,” Suslow said, noting that commercial processors’ treatment would have been more intense.

“The key difference is they (commercial processors) would typically be using higher concentrations, and … they may include a soft brush phase to sort of help mechanically remove things off the surface,” he said.

However, Suslow cautioned that consumers dealing with cantaloupe suspected to be part of an outbreak should do what the FDA is recommending and throw it out.

“The difference between a melon you just bought and you want to take extra precautions, versus those that might be part of an actual outbreak, you don’t want to mess around with those regardless,” he said. “This material does work and you can get a good kill of what’s on the surface, but you still are not going to find something that eliminates it entirely.

“If people want to take that extra step (in routine circumstances), then I think this is a good one to use. Certainly if you thought or suspected or if you’re in an area where you might have purchased one related to an outbreak, I absolutely would not recommend trying to clean it up before consuming it.”