Salmonella Melon Lawyer: Caito Foods also investigated in 2018 for salmonella
The current salmonella outbreak that has caused 117 illnesses and 32 hospitalizations in 10 states across the country has been traced back to pre-cut melons produced and sold by Caito Foods LLC. The contaminated melon products were shipped from the Caito Foods LLC facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. Illnesses related to contaminated melons began to be reported in early March 2019 and were linked to
Salmonella
Carrau.
In June 2018, a similar outbreak began and was traced back to the same Caito Foods Indiana facility. Those illnesses were determined to have been caused by Salmonella Adelaide. In the 2018 outbreak, 77 people became ill across 9 states, with 36 people hospitalized. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a full investigation, including an inspection of the Caito Foods processing facility.
The FDA found several food safety violations at the facility in 2018, such as unsanitary food handling conditions and personnel not following appropriate hygiene procedures. Caito Foods did take corrective actions in response to the FDA findings. They destroyed all melon products in the facility that may have been potentially contaminated. They developed new food handling procedures and retrained all of their employees on proper food safety protocol.
In April 2019, the FDA determined that the rare strain of Salmonella Carrau that has caused the multi-state outbreak of illnesses is, once again, linked to Caito Foods and the Indianapolis, Indiana, facility. As a result, on April 12, 2019, Caito Foods LLC again recalled pre-cut watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, and pre-cut fruit medley products containing one of these melons produced at that facility.
The current recall involves melon products that were distributed in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Potentially contaminated melon products were sold at Kroger under the Renaissance Food Group label and the Boar’s Head private label, at Target under the Garden Highway Label, at Trader Joe’s under the Trader Joe’s label, at Walmart under a Freshness Guaranteed label, and at Amazon/Whole Foods under the Whole Foods Market label.
