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The ongoing Listeria monocytogenes outbreak associated with cantaloupe grown in Colorado is the deadliest outbreak of foodborne disease in more than a decade, according to Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In early September, CDC was notified that a foodborne outbreak was ongoing after a cluster of listeria cases was identified in Colorado. Since that time, 100 cases have been confirmed and 18 deaths have been reported.

CDC, FDA and local health departments worked together to trace the product to Rocky Ford cantaloupe grown by Jensen Farms of Holly, Colo. The farm's cantaloupe were sold in at least 23 states – throughout the West Coast, Midwest and East Coast – which has resulted in a wide dispersion of sickened individuals. Carol's Cuts, a division of Kansas City-based Liberty Fruit Co., used the raw product in trays and fruit medleys, and on Sept. 23 issued a recall of 594 pounds of fresh-cut cantaloupe product that came from Jensen Farms.

Although the source of the contaminated product has been identified and shipments have ceased, CDC expects the number of people sickened with listeria to rise through October, as the shelf life of melons is up to two weeks and the incubation time for listeria can be weeks or months.

"Listeria is an unusual bacteria in a couple of ways. One is that the - what's called the incubation time, the time between when you consume it and when you get sick is longer than it is for many other bacteria. It can be one to three weeks. It can even be two months or more in some cases. So people who consumed the cantaloupe some time ago may continue to develop illness in the coming days and weeks," Frieden said in a Sept. 28 press call.

He encouraged consumers to check the label of uneaten cantaloupe and properly discard it if it came from Jensen Farms.

This outbreak is the first time the source has been linked to listeria in whole cantaloupe, and FDA is working to determine how the contamination occurred, said Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of FDA. The investigation also in unusual because four strains of Listeria monocytogenes have been detected on Jensen Farms cantaloupe, from two different serotypes, Hamburg said. Over the past decade, cantaloupe has been the vehicle in 10 other outbreaks – seven were salmonella and three were norovirus.

"Let me share with you a little more information on what we're doing. And that is a team of experts, both the state of Colorado expertise combined with FDA, were at the farm conducting an environmental assessment. To really get at the heart of what may have happened to cause this contamination, and not just how it may have been contaminated but was there any opportunity for continued growth or spreading of that contamination? So what we basically are doing is we will look at various parameters, environmental in particular, that may have contributed to that contamination and spread. And some of those things that we'll be looking at is any potential animal intrusion. We'll be looking at water quality. We'll be looking at the growing practices, the harvesting practice. We'll also be looking at the process within the facility for packing and potentially rinsing the cantaloupes themselves and how they were stored and whether there's amplification in that process. So we'll be looking at different factors from the environmental perspective to see how this contamination may have occurred, how it could have been spread. And then most importantly, we're going to take these lessons learned, share that with our partners and industries, CDC and the states, and what we want to do is we want to really prevent this from happening in the future. And again, that's quite consistent with the Food Safety Modernization Act," Hamburg said.

The value-added fruit and vegetable segments increased in both volume and dollar sales since the second quarter of 2010, according to the most recent Fresh Facts on Retail, prepared for the United Fresh Foundation by the Perishables Group.

Fresh-cut fruit dollar sales increased more then 3 percent over 2010, while volume increased just less than 1 percent. Overwrapped fruit, which makes up 19 percent of the value-added fruit segment, increased 5 percent in dollar sales and 7 percent in volume.

Value-added vegetables also saw increases in volume and dollar sales, but nearly every category saw decreases in average retail prices. The entire category saw a nearly 6 percent increase in dollar sales and 7 percent increase in volume, with the average retail price down 1 percent to $3.09. Vegetable side dishes, which account for more than half of the value-added vegetable segment, saw a 10 percent increase in dollar sales over 2010 and a nearly 11 percent increase in volume. Vegetable trays, 21 percent of the segment, saw a decline in dollar sales of 2 percent but were steady in volume. Snacking items increased 4 percent in dollar sales and 6 percent in volume, but that category accounts for only 9 percent of the value-added vegetable segment.

Growth in the value-added industry at retail can be partly attributed to lower average prices. That helped to drive volume at a faster rate than dollar sales, according to the Perishables Group. The growth can also be due to the increase in unique items, however. According to the report, there were 8 percent more value-added fruit products on retail shelves compared to 2010, and stores carried 2 percent more vegetable products. On average, each store stocked 39 unique value-added fruit items and 32 unique vegetable items. Customers also have responded to retail marketing, specifically grouping value-added products together based on use. This helps consumers choose among items, according to the report released in September.

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FTNON has developed a unique steaming system especially for disinfecting melons, pineapples, mangos, oranges and the like. The FTNON DCC steamer for fruit not only brings a significant reduction in the number of bacteria on the skin, it can also disinfect without any loss of energy, according to the company.

The crux of the steaming system is a patented steam control system, called Dynamic Cloud Control, or DCC System. This system allows all products to be treated equally and cold spots aren't able to arise. The retention time can also be set to specific times. The result is that over-treatment and product damage is avoided. The amount of steam is controlled automatically, so there is no loss of steam at the inlet or outlet of the installation. In addition, the system is able to reduce the steam consumption by 30 percent to 70 percent, compared to older systems.

If desired, for cooling after steaming or disinfecting, a hydro-chiller or a cooling tunnel can be used.

For more information on FTNON products and services, visit www.ftnon.com or call FTNON USA Inc. at 831-274-6007.