Update on Honduran Cantaloupe Investigation

May 6, 2008 – Honduran firm Agropecuaria Montelíbano continues to work to improve its food-safety controls over its growing and packing operations to minimize the potential for contamination of cantaloupes.  The firm has provided the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with documentation of its corrective actions made through April 2008.  However, after review of the documentation submitted, the measures implemented to date do not appear to adequately prevent the risk of contamination.  HHS/FDA continues to work with the firm by providing a detailed review of the corrective measures, including specific comment on the areas that still need improvement.

On March 21, 2008, HHS/FDA issued an Import Alert on Agropecuaria Montelíbano after epidemiological and trace-back investigations linked cantaloupes from that company to a Salmonellosis outbreak in the United States, with 51 illnesses confirmed in 16 States.

A multidisciplinary team, which consisted of experts from both HHS/FDA and the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, conducted an on-site evaluation of Agropecuaria Montelíbano in Honduras.  Agropecuaria U.S. customs officials and HHS/FDA will continue to detain Agropecuaria Montelíbano's product, without physical examination, when offered for entry into the United States, until HHS/FDA lifts the Import Alert.  For HHS/FDA to remove Agropecuaria Montelíbano from the Import Alert, HHS/FDA needs to verify that the firm has taken the corrective measures necessary to ensure that it is growing, processing and transporting cantaloupes in a way that does not cause the melons to appear to be adulterated, that its product meets U.S. standards for food safety, and that, specifically, its cantaloupes do not contain Salmonella.

For more information:

• Limited Recall of Cantaloupe (Due to Salmonella) (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)

Last revised: May 07, 2008