The company whose cantaloupes were linked to listeria contamination voluntarily recalled its produce weeks ago, but there's a reason the number of reported cases can keep growing, health experts say.
Officials say it can take up to two months before a person who ate listeria-contaminated food comes down with listeriosis, and people may still have the cantaloupe in refrigerators.
Even though the cantaloupes are gone, the listeria might not be, says Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C.
The death toll in the 15-state listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupe from Colorado may now be as high as 10; at least 60 people have been reported ill.
Food safety experts are warning anyone who might have had the cantaloupes to sanitize countertops and refrigerators with bleach.
As of late last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had confirmed that at least 55 people in 14 states have been sickened from eating cantaloupes. Eight have died.
On Friday, Kansas authorities reported two deaths among the eight known cases of listeriosis in the state. Five of those eight have been confirmed as linked to the national outbreak.
"We are waiting on the medical examiner to say the cause of death," says Barbara Hersh, public information officer for the Kansas State Department of Health and Environment in Topeka. The two who died are among the eight who have tested positive for listeriosis, "but we don't know if that was their primary cause of death. And we don't know if the two who died were part of the five who CDC confirmed were part of the national outbreak yet."
The outbreak is linked to whole cantaloupes sold by Jensen Farms of Holly, Colo. They may have been labeled Sweet Rocky Fords, but some may have been unlabeled.
Melons were sold in 25 states; cases have been found in California, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyomng.
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