What's on the minds of California's farmers and ranchers?

The multi-state listeria outbreak associated with Colorado cantaloupe is an ongoing tragedy, yet California cantaloupe growers and shippers continue to suffer from contaminated fruit grown and shipped by Jensen Farms of Holly, CO and distributed by Frontera Produce of Edinburg, TX.  Although the FDA and CDC worked diligently to isolate and identify the shipper and shipping region, this outbreak has ruined the latter half of our shipping season and devastated melon sales.

When it comes to California cantaloupes, we want our customers to know that California shippers are committed to continuing our history of science-based food safety research. Twenty (20) years of research has taught us that wet or humid growing conditions and the use of water in the packing process require additional risk management practices to avoid cross-contamination of the product.  Over the years, the California cantaloupe industry has taken steps to eliminate the use of water in cooling, avoided immersion of melons in water during packing and minimized contact between melons and irrigation water in the growing cycle as a means of enhancing the safety of our product.

While unfortunately, the number of illnesses reported is still on the rise, experts have assured us that these cantaloupes are no longer in distribution channels or in consumers’ homes.  This means that cantaloupes now being shipped from all other growers and all other growing areas, including California, are NOT involved in this outbreak.  We hope that our customers and the buying public will join us in continuing to offer and promote cantaloupe in the coming weeks.