Food Safety attorney Bill Marler calls for import restrictions on Mexican Cantaloupe

SEATTLE, Nov. 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — “Since last week the U.S. and Canadian health officials reported 162 people with Salmonella, including 62 hospitalized with three deaths, all linked to the consumption of cantaloupe imported from Mexico,” said food safety attorney, William “Bill” Marler. “In the U.S. the FDA should use its authority under the Food Safety Modernization Act to stop Mexican cantaloupe imports until the “root cause” of the outbreak has been determined,” added Marler.

The Salmonella Cantaloupe Outbreak. In the U.S. as of November 24, 99 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella have been reported from 32 states. Illnesses started on dates ranging from October 17, 2023, to November 10, 2023. Of 77 people with information available, 45 have been hospitalized. Two deaths have been reported from Minnesota. In Canada as of November 24, there have been 63 laboratory-confirmed cases of Salmonella in six provinces, Individuals became sick between mid-October and mid-November 2023. Seventeen individuals have been hospitalized. One death has been reported.

The Salmonella Cantaloupe Recall. Whole fresh cantaloupes with a label on the cantaloupe that says “Malichita” or “Rudy”, “4050”, and “Product of Mexico/produit du Mexique.” Retailers and wholesalers would have received recalled whole melons from Crown Jewels Produce in boxes labeled “Malachita/Z Farms” or from Sofia Produce doing business as TruFresh in boxes labeled “Malichita” or “Rudy.” Additional secondary recalls have been issued for products that were made using recalled cantaloupes and for produce items that were processed alongside recalled cantaloupes. 

William “Bill” Marler has been a food safety lawyer and advocate since the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box E. coli Outbreak which was chronicled in the book, “Poisoned” and in the recent Netflix documentary by the same name. Bill work has been profiled in the New Yorker, “A Bug in the System;” the Seattle Times, “30 years after the deadly E. coli outbreak, A Seattle attorney still fights for food safety;” the Washington Post, “He helped make burgers safer, Now he is fighting food poisoning again;” and several others.

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