delmonte.jpgOn March 22, 2011 Del Monte announced the recall of 4,992 cartons of cantaloupes due to contamination with Salmonella panama.   The recall followed an announcement by the FDA that “there is an epidemiologic link between the cantaloupes and approximately twelve reported cases of Salmonella panama.”  See FDA Recall Notice, Attachment No. 1. The CDC later issued an update, on March 29, raising the number of illnesses linked to Del Monte’s cantaloupe to 13 in five states, including one in Colorado.  The CDC also confirmed that “the investigative efforts of state, local, and federal public health and regulatory agencies have linked this outbreak to eating cantaloupe.”  See CDC Update, Attachment No. 2.

Although the link to Del Monte’s product was clear, it appears as though Del Monte was initially resistant to issue a recall, or at least to recognize the involvement of its product despite mounting evidence.   Three days prior to the recall by Del Monte, an epidemiologist with the State of Oregon, Dr. William Keene, was moved to make things clear to a Dr. Thomas Young at Del Monte.   See Email from Dr. William Keene, Attachment No. 3.   Dr. Keene opened his email by explaining that “the epidemiological evidence implicating Del Monte cantaloupe is overwhelming.”   Dr. Keene later went on to point out that the odds that Del Monte cantaloupe was not the source of the thirteen connected illnesses in five states was somewhere below “one in a trillion.”