Bloomberg’s Stephanie Armour is reporting that an unidentified farm in southwestern Indiana is withdrawing cantaloupe from the marketplace following a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 141 people and killed two in 20 U.S. states, federal regulators said.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. also began contacting outlets last night and instructing them to withdraw cantaloupe grown in southwestern Indiana as a precaution, Dianna Ghee, a spokeswoman for the retailer, said in an interview today. Sam’s Club isn’t impacted because they don’t source cantaloupes from the area, she said.
“At this time, we have no indication or confirmation that any of the cantaloupes were sold at Wal-Mart,” Ghee said in a statement. “However, in an abundance of caution, we have voluntarily removed all cantaloupes sourced from southwestern Indiana until investigators can determine the exact source of contamination.”
As a result of initial investigations by state health departments, a farm in southwestern Indiana has contacted distributors and is withdrawing its cantaloupe from the marketplace, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said last night. The farm has agreed to cease distributing cantaloupes for the rest of the growing season.