Tainted Cantaloupe 55 Sickened, 8 Dead

[Stuart G]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44616184/ns/health-food_safety


The toll of listeria food poisoning infections tied to contaminated cantaloupe rose sharply Wednesday, with federal health officials reporting 55 people sickened and eight dead in 14 states after eating tainted fruit Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had previously reported 35 illnesses and four deaths in 10 states.

Food safety trackers, however — including Seattle lawyer Bill Marler — say they count as many as 68 infections and 11 deaths based on confirmed and suspect cases.

Local, state and federal health experts are investigating the widening outbreak tied to Rocky Ford-region brand whole cantaloupe shipped by supplier Jensen Farms of Holly, Colo. On Sept. 14, the federal Food and Drug Administration announced a recall of cantaloupes linked to the multi-state outbreak of listeriosis. The affected cantaloupes were shipped between July 29 and Sept. 10 to at least 17 states and possibly more.

Testing has revealed that the victims are infected with four strains of listeria associated with the outbreak. The CDC says they include 14 victims in Colorado, 10 in New Mexico, nine in Texas, eight in Oklahoma, four in Nebraska, two in Wisconsin and one each in California, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, according to a Wednesday report from the CDC. Deaths have included two in Colorado, one in Maryland, four in New Mexico and one in Oklahoma, federal officials said.
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Some Republicans say we need less food regultations and inspections. More free market enterprise.
Why don't they have some of this wonderful cantaloupe?. Or a few years ago, there was some peanut butter that they could eat from a dirty factory.
Remember?

[abelenkpe]

1. K & R

Lurking libertarians? This thread is for you...

[Blue_Tires]

9. +1000

[Turbineguy]

2. We don't need regulation

you just need to be blessed by God. Then you won't get sick or die.

I suppose I better include this::sarcasm:

[Stuart G]

4. Read about a world without government regulation. Here is a book for you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle


The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
It was published by Doubleday, Page & Company on February 28, 1906 and has been in print ever since.

About the meat packing industry in Chicago without any government regulations.
Neat little read. Have fun.

[Turbineguy]

5. That would be a re-read

But it's been about decades ago.

Good idea!

[Wait Wut]

8. That's what I heard.

What we need is a real "leader" to prove it to us. I say we give the entire GOP some of this canteloupe. Whomever doesn't die wins the nomination!

[Lasher]

3. No more Cantaloupe for me!

I'm gonna stick to wheat gluten from China.

[crim son]

6. I listened to a couple libertarians on NPR tell me

that "word of mouth" was sufficient control for our food production system. I suppose it's true that rumors of eight or more dead and many other sickened might deter me from eating cantaloup for a while but it's idiotic to claim that nothing more in the way of consumer protection is needed.

[Wait Wut]

7. Word of mouth?

The dead can't talk. Well, except for speaking through statistics.

[phantom power]

12. "Word of mouth" might work if we all live like preindustrial villagers...

and all our food comes from the same tribe/village.

Yet again, libertarians fail to live in the same century the rest of us live in.

[marmar]

10. Something like this seemingly happens weekly these days.

nt

[Politicalboi]

11. See how well

Freedom from government works so well. We don't need no stinking regulations. Please pass the cantaloupe please.

[Stuart G]

13. An update on story...9/23

By JoNel AlecciaHealth writer
msnbc.com

updated 2 hours 20 minutes ago


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44632769/ns/health-food_safety/


Toll expected to rise
Government health officials and food safety trackers say the listeria toll is likely to rise as more suspected infections are confirmed. Marler has counted as many as 68 infections and 11 deaths, which would put the mortality total higher than the 2009 salmonella outbreak in peanut butter that sickened nearly 700 and claimed nine lives.

According to reports, a company that uses human waste for fertilizer says it has been questioned by federal health officials about the outbreak. Parker Ag Services vice president Mike Shearp told Denver's KMGH-TV that investigators have questioned him in recent days about where the biosolids had been used. He said the fertilizer was applied to a field directly across from a Jensen Farms field years ago.