Company expands cantaloupe recall to honeydews

By Maggie Fox, NBC News

A North Carolina company that has recalled tens of thousands of
cantaloupes because of potential food poisoning extended the recall to
honeydew melons on Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
said.

Burch Equipment LLC (Burch Farms) of Faison, N.C., is expanding its
recall to include all of this growing season's cantaloupes and
honeydew melons that may still be on the market. “The honeydew melons
involved in this recall expansion do not bear any identifying stickers
but were packed in shipping cases labeled melons,” the FDA said in a
statement.

“The cantaloupes and honeydew melons involved in this expanded recall
were sold to distributors in the states of Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, Virginia, Vermont and West Virginia, who may have further
distributed them to other states,” the FDA said.

People who bought melons should ask the stores whether they got the
fruit from Burch Farms.

The FDA said it found the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes (L. mono) on
a honeydew melon grown and packed by Burch Farms.

Listeria can cause sometimes serious food poisoning, although no one
has been confirmed sick from this particular recall, FDA said.
Symptoms of listeriosis include fever and muscle aches, diarrhea and
other gastrointestinal problems. “The disease primarily affects older
adults, pregnant women, newborns, and adults with weakened immune
systems. However, rarely, persons without these risk factors can also
be affected,” FDA says.

It can take anywhere from three days to more than two months to get
sick after eating food contaminated with Listeria.

Earlier this month, Burch recalled 188,902 melons from stores. Food
safety officials are especially wary of cantaloupes after one of the
deadliest foodborne illness outbreaks in U.S. history last year, in
which contaminated Colorado cantaloupes sickened at least 147 people,
including at least 30 who died and one woman who had a miscarriage.