According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a North Carolina company that has recently recalled tens of thousands of cantaloupes because of potential food poisoning extended the recall to honeydew melons.
Burch Equipment LLC (Burch Farms) of Faison, NorthCarolina, is expanding its recall to include all of this growing season’s cantaloupes and honeydew melons that may still be on the market.
The FDA said 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 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. 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.
It can take anywhere from three days to more than two months to get sick after eating food contaminated with Listeria.
