Colorado Cantaloupes Return; Growers Push Safety

Posted: Fri 10:39 AM, Jul 13, 2012

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Reporter: AP Email

Updated: Fri 4:54 PM, Jul 13, 2012

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Colorado Cantaloupes Return; Growers Push Safety

FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2011, file photo, cantaloupes rot in the afternoon heat on a field on the Jensen Farms near Holly, Colo. Pools of water on the floor and old, hard-to-clean equipment at the farm's cantaloupe-packing facility were probably to blame for the deadliest outbreak of foodborne illness in 25 years, the Food and Drug Administration said. President Barack Obama's proposed budget would eliminate the nation's only program that regularly tests fruits and vegetables for deadly pathogens, leaving public health officials without a crucial tool used to investigate deadly foodborne illness outbreaks. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

GLENDALE, Colo. (AP) - Nearly a year after the nation's deadliest foodborne illness outbreak in more than two decades, Colorado cantaloupes are back in supermarkets.

Farmers near the town of Rocky Ford are going on the offensive to restore the fruit's reputation a year after melons from one of the area's farms caused a nationwide listeria outbreak that killed 30 people.

Farmers have banded together to trademark Rocky Ford melons and
fund a new tracking system to prevent future outbreaks, but they must convince buyers that the melons are safe.

From new picking and packing techniques to traceable codes allowing shoppers to see where their cantaloupes came from, farmers
in the two southern Colorado counties that produce Rocky Ford melons have spent $800,000 on safety upgrades to restore the fruit's reputation.

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