Cantaloupe Farmers in the US Criminally Charged for Outbreak of Deadly Bacteria

Owners of a bankrupt Colorado cantaloupe farm whose listeria-infected melons killed 33 people in 2011, have been arrested and charged, according to Reuters.

Eric Jensen, 37, and his brother Ryan, 33, former owners of Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado, were each charged with six counts of "introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce," U.S. Attorney John Walsh said in a statement. In May 2011, the Jensens began washing their farm's cantaloupe crop with equipment designed to cleanse potatoes and failed to use a chlorine spray feature that kills deadly bacteria, prosecutors said.

"The defendants were aware that their cantaloupes could be contaminated with harmful bacteria if not sufficiently washed," the federal prosecutors said in the statement. "The chlorine spray, if used, would have reduced the risk of microbial contamination of the fruit."

Aside from the fatalities linked to cantaloupes from Jensen Farms, 147 people across 28 states were hospitalized, and a woman suffered a miscarriage, authorities said. The elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are most at risk of falling ill from listeria, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, sometimes preceded by diarrhea and other gastrointestinal problems. Listeria infections are typically linked to certain cheeses and packaged meats, and this was the first outbreak in the United States tied to cantaloupes.

Months after the Jensen produce went to market, health officials in over two dozen states reported a spike in listeria infections from people who ate cantaloupes from Colorado. The outbreak was ultimately traced to fruit shipped from Jensen Farms. Investigators with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspected the Jensen Farms packing plant at the time and said they found "poor sanitary practices in the facility."