Home > News > Retail > UPDATED: Indiana confirms salmonella on Chamberlain watermelons

UPDATED: Indiana confirms salmonella on Chamberlain watermelons

09/11/2012 04:49:00 PM
Coral Beach

Neither federal agency nor the Indiana Health Department had posted any information regarding the Chamberlain watermelon on their websites as of Sept. 12.

According to the CDC’s website, there are more than 2,000 kinds of salmonella that can cause disease in humans. Of those varieties, three — Newport, Typhimurium and Enteritidis — account for about half of the confirmed salmonella illnesses reported by the public health laboratories.

Salmonella Newport has “increased markedly since 1995 and is now the third-most frequent serotype,” according to the CDC website.

Schnucks Markets, St. Louis, issued its own recall of Chamberlain watermelon from retail stores under the Schnucks, Logli and Hilander banners in Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Some of the watermelons can be identified by stickers that say “Indian Hills — Produce of USA” on them, according to the Schnucks recall notice. Some retailers may have Chamberlain watermelons that do not have any identifying stickers.


Prev 1 2 Next All

Comments (2) Leave a comment 

Name
e-Mail (required)
Location

Comment:

characters left

Ben    
September, 12, 2012 at 12:41 PM

Indiana health officials found Salmonella Newport contamination on watermelons still in the field at Chamberlain Farms during their ongoing investigation of a separate Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak linked to the farm’s cantaloupe. My questions is why didn't shut FDA the operation down, when Salmonella is found everywhere? When the owner doesn't care about public health, neither the retailers shouldn't the government step in and protect the consumers?

    
Indiana  |  September, 12, 2012 at 04:47 PM

The owner does care about public health, perhaps you should look at the government and the regulations associated with these types of facilities. At that point and time there was no reason to believe that the contamination was farm wide, as the test results only RECENTLY came back positive for another strain.

The farmer has done nothing but work with the FDA, Local Officials, National Officials, etc in order to try to come to the bottom of this outbreak. I don't think you really know all of the ins and outs of what it takes to operate a farm, and the NUMEROUS ways a farm can be contaminated.

You could actually be the culprit, did you ever pull over on the side of the road and decide to use the bathroom, because there were no rest areas in the vicinity?

Do not make judgments on an owner or farmer when EVERY news article indicates he/she is working to try to solve the problem and not hinder it!

Feedback Form
Leads to Insight