Cantaloupe Outbreak is Showcase of Bad Policy
Although we expect the cantaloupe we eat to be safe and healthy and to be produced, marketed and sold in a reasonable manner, it often isn’t. In fact, this cantaloupe Listeria outbreak is a showcase of bad policy and repeated mistakes that was as foreseeable as it was preventable.
According to a 2006 study authored by epidemiologists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the period between 1984 and 2002 there were no fewer than twenty-three cantaloupe-associated outbreaks in which almost 1500 people were sickened. This cantaloupe outbreak, the first one caused by Listeria, may prove to be the deadliest foodborne outbreak in U.S. history.
Perhaps the saddest aspect of this outbreak is that although we know what food caused it and where that food came from (Jensen Farms in Colorado), people continue to get sick and die from it. Why?
The first reason is because neither Jensen Farms nor the federal and state governments charged with investigating the outbreak have released the names of retailers that sold the contaminated fruit. And the reason they haven’t released those names? Because they don’t really know where the cantaloupe was sold. And the reason they don’t know is because effective trace back technology and practices were not in place.
The second reason is because cantaloupe is often sold without labels, or previously affixed labels fell off. Consumers simply cannot tell by looking at a cantaloupe where it was grown or whether it contains life-threatening pathogens. An untold number of unsuspecting people will continue eating Jensen Farms cantaloupe because they cannot find out if their retailer sold it and cannot tell by looking at the fruit if was produced by Jensen Farms.
You would think that if a company sells a product capable of producing injury and death across the United States there should be a way to trace the distribution of that product. There is. But as this outbreak tragically illustrates, the technology and practices that would have stopped this outbreak long before now weren’t applied to fungible food products like this one.
It’s not hard to envision how this would work. Cantaloupes, like other types of fruits and vegetables, could be sold in inexpensive mesh bags. Attached to the bags would be sufficient information to allow regulators (and the public) to know the producer, shipper, sell by dates and any other information including the best practices for preparing and consuming the product. You could, for example, easily create a method by which a QR code is affixed to the fruit so that consumers can quickly scan it with a cell phone app and learn where it came from and whether it is implicated in an outbreak.
Labeling and traceback issues in foodborne illness outbreaks are as foreseeable as human illness from the consumption of cantaloupe. It is insane that more people will continue to get sick and die because we don’t learn from our failures and because we don’t apply the tools and policies that we know will work.
The High Cost of E. coli and Salmonella Food Poisoning
Americans pay about $3.13 billion a year in costs incurred each year by Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 alone, according to the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
The center is reporting figures gathered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS). As seen in the chart below, the ERS used estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to come up with cost estimates for both E. coli and Salmonella cases annually. The numbers for Salmonella costs are based on the CDC’s estimate of almost 1.4 million Salmonella cases each year, which includes 415 deaths. The average cost per case is an estimated $1,896.
| Pathogen | CDC estimate of annual number of cases | ERS cost estimate (2009 dollars) |
|---|---|---|
 Campylobacter (foodborne sources) |
2,000,000 | |
| Salmonella (all sources) |
1,397,187 | $2,649,413,401 |
| Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157 (STEC O157) (all sources) |
73,480 | $478,381,766 |
| Non-O157 shiga toxin-producing E. coli (non-STEC O157) (all sources) |
31,229 | |
| Listeria (all sources) |
2,797 |
The CDC numbers of E coli O157 cases are significantly lower, at 73,480 cases a year with 61 deaths, however the per-case cost of $6,510 is much higher than Salmonella cases.
According to CIDRAP:
“The ERS has posted an online “Foodborne Illness Cost Calculator” that allows Web users to come up with their own estimates of the cost of foodborne illnesses for a state or region or for a given outbreak. The ERS’s estimates, which have been used in cost-benefit and impact analyses, include assumptions about disease incidence, outcome severity, and medical and productivity costs.”
Currently the only pathogens available in the calculator are Salmonella and E. coli O157, however, the ERS is planning on adding Listeria, Campylobacter, and other strains of E. coli (non-0157 shiga toxin-producing E. coli such as ecoli 0111 and E. coli 0145). The types of costs taken into consideration by the USDA’s ERS include:
- Medical costs
- Time missed from work due to illness
- Cost of premature death
However, they do NOT include costs such as:
- Pain and suffering
- Travel
- Child care
A similar report released in March by The Produce Safety Project, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts at Georgetown University, estimated much higher numbers, with a total cost of $152 billion per year for all pathogens, $14.6 billion for Salmonella and $993 million for E. coli 0157.
Mi Pueblito Cheese Recall Due to Possible Listeria Contamination
Quesos Mi Pueblito, LLC of Passaic, New Jersey, has recalled the following cheese products with Sell by Date from February 2, 2009 to present:
LA FE OAXACA STRING CHEESE
EL VIEJITO OAXACA CHEESE
MI PUEBLITO COTIJA/AñEJO
MI PUEBLITO CUAJADA FRESCA
MI PUEBLITO QUESO COLOMBIANO DE ARRIERO
MI PUEBLITO QUESO MOLIDO
MI PUEBLITO QUESO COTIJA TRIANGULO
MI PUEBLITO QUESO FRESCO
MI PUEBLITO QUESO FRESCO DE RANCHO
MI PUEBLITO QUESO CASERO
MI PUEBLITO QUESO OAXACA
MI PUEBLITO REQUESON
MI PUEBLITO SERRANO
The recalled Mi Pueblito cheese products may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms, such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, infection can cause miscarriages and still births among pregnant women and life-threatening infections (Listeria sepsis and Listeria meningitis) in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
The recalled cheese was distributed in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia through Puebla Foods, INC., Passaic, N.J. to retail stores and wholesalers.
No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this problem.
The recall is a result of sampling and analyses by the NJ Dept. of Health and Senior Services.
If no one has eaten any of the cheese, consumers who have purchased these products may return them to the place of purchase for a full refund, according to the FDA news release regarding this outbreak. If someone has eaten some of the cheese and is later diagnosed with listeriosis (Listeria infection), the leftover cheese may be able to be used as evidence in a suit against the manufacturer.
For more information about the Me Pueblito Cheese recall, please see the FDA news release.
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