Burch Farms lacked audits, traceability on recalled fruit

08/16/2012 03:24:00 PM
Coral Beach

“We shipped 3,000 loads of produce last year with no problems,” Burch said.

According to Burch and the FDA, the recalled honeydews do not have any identifying stickers. They were packed in cartons labeled “melons.”

In its latest recall notice the company reminded consumers that the listeria incubation period “can be one to three weeks, but may be in the range of three to 70 days.”

Complete distribution details on the melons are not available, according to the FDA.

The Burch cantaloupes and honeydew melons were sold to distributors from June 23 to July 27, in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia, Vermont and West Virginia, the Aug. 10 recall states.

“The melons may have further been distributed to retail stores, restaurants and food service facilities in other states,” according to the recall.

Comments (10) Leave a comment 

We revived a called this morning 8-16-2012 at 12:54pm informing us we had
purchased these exact Melons from our local Kroger in Oxford, MS and they could be
returned! Well since the dates were July 12 to 22 -2012 of course that is impossible
because they were eaten. We also live in the country and I feed the rinds to the
wildlife so they could also be contaminated now! I have been sick since the August 9
2012 and started taking antibiotics on the 8-10-12 ! My spouse and I both have
compromised immune systems so we are extremely concerned as to what permanent
long term effects this will have on our health!

No third part audit for Kroger?

What happened?

Does Faison N. C. have internet access?

Newspaper service?

Appears Food Safety Program was a "Dust Mask"

Kroger and any other retailer that purchases from a company without proof of third party audits should be penalized. This is undefensable for Kroger to not require sourcing from food safe companies. Is this crop "Organic" like the cantaloupe crop in Colorado? I also think it should be illegal to transition crops. USDA & FDA has really buried the fact that the cantaloupe crop in Colorado was an Organic Crop.

I was taught that when you purchase produce that was picked off a tree or a bush,
grown on or under the ground you WASH it. food safety and recalls in the USA have
gone nuts. Everything is a knee jerk anymore and pretty soon the shelves will be empty
as stupid regulations will drive growers and processors from the business. Wake up
people. the USA has the safest food and water on the planet and yet these knee jerk
reactions keep on happening. It has gotten out of control from the media, FDA, and
USDA.

READ THE LAST PART OF THIS COLUMN

he said that his farm has not had food safety issues o the past

that does not mean that he will ot have them on the furture Duh

also it has bee proved taht the listeria could be trasmitet from the vehicles that take the cull from facilities because mostly of the cull goes to the cow farms and those veicles could gte the listeria form the cows pup and when they come back to the packing houses they do not go trough sanitation station then the drivers get out of the vehicles on the farm an the packinghouses carriying the contemination on their shoes

Greg, can you provide a link to support your statement that the cantaloupes in the Colorado incident were organic?

Everyone of you are right but what you dont understand is that we all buy produce year round that comes from Mexico,Guatamala,and other places that have no food safety programs at all and we never complain about being sick until someone tells us we have a reason to.This issue is a sore one around my house because as a grower I have to at times purchase and bring into my home perishables that I know for a fact are not regulated by the government using the guidelines that I have to abide by year in and year out. Thank about for a moment then send your complaints to the USDA about non-regulated produce that they allow in this country every single day and you purchase without a second thought

No, you're wrong. More than 6,000 Americans die every year from foodborne illness. And washing the cantaloupe would not do a thing this time; the bacteria were on the INSIDE of the fruit as well. Washing does not get rid of all of the pathogenic bacteria on produce and may in fact spread the bacteria around the kitchen. Considering that the medical bills for ONE case of hemolytic uremic syndrome from E. coli 0157:H7 can run $6 MILLION, regulations are a cost effective way to save money and LIVES.

The Jensen Farms cantaloupe was in the second or third year of transition. Either the FDA reported it or the information was in the audit itself. Transition = organic growing.