Yea - this was big news at least a week if not two weeks ago. Rocky Ford Colorado. They grow a lot of melons there.

Welllll, I bought my melon 2-3 days ago. I also heard the earlier news about it, and would have thought that in that span of time a merchant would have some knowledge ALSO & not be putting "suspect" melons out for sale. I think it's likely there is no problem with my melon & add to that the fact that I'm healthy,,,, so I look @ it that my risk is minimal for disease. BUT all the same.... I am taking it back.

I still have the receipt. But NO she said bring the melon... even on 2nd questioning. Strange, I thought. Since I feel sure they will just trash it, as opposed to testing or sending it somewhere for tests, etc.

A friend bought cantaloupes here in CA last week, heard about the problem and took them back to the market. Even though no illness had been reported here, they gave her money back. She had eaten part of one, but is fine so far.

I read that the bacteria might have come from a dirty transport vehicle, rather than the farm itself, but we shall see.

I'm safe because I avoid cantaloupes - they give me terminal burps.

I wash all fruits and veggies I buy.

Listeria bacteria is everywhere. Best plan of action is, like Linda says, to thoroughly rinse all produce in lots of cold running water, and use a scrub brush under the faucet for things with rinds. Listeria is no the only microbe that causes food poisoning, don't forget.

Someone said (on the news) to treat the veggies like you do raw chicken. Keep the work station clean, rinse your hands, sanitize the sink, etc. Basic kitchen hygiene.

Personally, I am not going to buy any already cut cantaloup at the grocery, restaurant, or salad bar. Too many people just don't think to wash cantaloupe!

I agree & always wash off all fruits & veggies, including melons; never buy already cut melons as I'd always thought there was risk for contamination & that it might be "older" fruit anyway.

Heard on the news last eve that now you have to consider consumption of Listeria contaminated cantaloupe clear back to first of July!!

I have never washed a melon in my entire life. I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind washing the rind of a fruit.

As to the cantaloupe recall, I read that for the great majority of healthy individuals, the Listeria virus would not present any health threat whatsoever.

I also think that our obsession with health is turning us into a nation of hypochondriacs and weakening our immune systems.

This is a digression, but when I was a kid, you never ever heard of anyone with allergies to nuts and wheat and gluten and all that other stuff.

Rose

I also wash grapefruits and oranges and started to wash bananas.

If you cut in to a fruit, it is best to wash it first. You contaminate the inside, on that very first cut!

My opinion.

Moni.. who usually doesn't worry about stuff, but with the warnings in the past about fruit....

I heard on TV that there is a long incubation period, so we could be sickened by contaminated melons we ate many weeks ago. Not to be an alarmist--I don't worry about these things, but I do wash off fruit before slicing, then rinse sliced pieces. And I do not buy fruit sliced at the market.

I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind washing the rind of a fruit.
Not being snarky at all Rose, but if you saw a dog pee on it, or it had been laying in mud, or someone sneezed on it in the store...... would you then wash it? You don't know its exposure. My point is it can't hurt, but it sure could help to rinse off a variety of contaminants, not just harmful bacteria. The intent isn't to "sterilize" food, but to wash off gross contamination.

I do agree with you that to some extent that that people are obsessed with "germs". And the media & companies who profit from it are part of the cause. Most people do not have a good understanding of germ theory & have the misconception that we need to get rid of ALL "germs", while in fact germs (bacteria) both protect us & are functional in our bodies. Shows like Dr. Oz also sometimes give people an overblown idea of their risk for contracting infections. Saw his show the other day & some of it was just over the top in terms of "germ avoidance", imo.

But that aside, as I stated in my OP, I believe my risk is probably small even if my melon was Listeria contaminated because I am healthy. But we do have several people here who ARE immunocompromised as well as suffer from chronic illnesses & they DO have to avoid disease causing organisms.

Who ever heard of washing off a cantaloupe before now? I'm with Rose. I never do but will now, if I buy one. I always just wash off what ever has a peel that you eat....apples, grapes, after checking for tarantulas, I toss the bananas in the fruit bowl. Yeah, some bruising, I call them Angel Kisses, "Try it, you'll love it and have good, happy dreams." I do that with burnt biscuits, over cooked scrambled eggs and a bad cookie.

LOL beeohio, "a dog peed on it"? 200 acres of a cantaloupe field and a dog will pick MY melon to pee on? Don't flame me, I know you said,... "if you saw...." That just cracked me up. Thanks for the giggle.

I now have a new idea of not to buy pre-cut fruit at the grocery store.

Don't we have the FDA that's supposed to keep an eye out for this stuff? This week alone, the cantaloupe, some ground beef (always) and lettuce. You probably eat it before they even know. What do they do? Play Sudoko on their computers until 14 people die then scramble like crazy?

Why does "Food and Drug Administration" go together? Aparently, they do neither right.

I've been washing cantaloupe for years after hearing the rind can harbor bacteria. So it isn't a new thing. We also wash grapes, apples, peaches, things like that, but I do it because of pesticides. Funny thing though, other than sandy spinach and muddy celery or lettuce, I never wash vegetables. Don't know why I didn't consider the same pesticides on them.

My great grandmother used to fill her sink with warm soapy water and put all the fruits and vegetables in for a bath.

Oh, yeah, my grandma would use salty water when submerging leafy greens. I kind of forgot about that.

I have always washed store bought produce, cept oranges... till a friend of mine told me if I use a knife to score the peeling I should wash the orange first. Thus, the citrus fruit made it on my "washed list".

rosemary, the bacteria is on the outside of the cantaloup. When that cantaloup is sliced, the interior flesh can become contaminated.

Our commercial produce is handled over and over again before it gets to us. It may be stored in rodent or roach infested locations before being placed in the produce sections of our grocers. And the pesticides! You've just got to wash/rinse what you eat.

The dog pee post wasn't so far out :o) Here a while back there was contaminated lettuce they had to recall from the stores. They found that some migrant workers had peed on the lettuce while it was growing and just washing the outside of the lettuce didn't help

Plus they use portapotties out there while harvesting the produce. Pretty nasty.