Salmonella Sundsvall Cantaloupe Outbreak – 6 Dead and 158 Hospitalized
Sofia Produce, LLC, operating as TruFresh, issued company announcements concerning recalled cantaloupe late last year about potentially contaminated cantaloupes. At about the same time, Crown Jewels Produce issued a similar company announcement. Shortly thereafter, Pacific Trellis Fruit, operating as Dulcinea, also issued a company announcement. These recall announcements followed announcements made by the Food adn Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as state and local health agencies that they had begun an investigation into an outbreak of Salmonella Sundsvall that had led them back to the consumption of cantaloupes. Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) indicated a singular source of the Salmonella Sundsvall outbreak, and FDA’s traceback investigation soon identified Sofia Produce, (TruFresh), a cantaloupe supplier from Nogales, AZ; Crown Jewels Produce, a cantaloupe supplier from Fresno, CA; and Pacific Trellis Fruit (Dulcinea) another cantaloupe supplier from Fresno, CA, as suppliers of Malichita” or “Rudy” brand cantaloupes that had been consumed y patrons who then developed salmonellosis.
ALDI, a national retail chain, soon issued its own recall, warning: “out of an abundance of caution, ALDI Inc., (“ALDI”) recalls its Cantaloupe, Cantaloupe Chunk, and Pineapple Spear products. The affected products are recalled due to potential Salmonella contamination.”
According to the CDC, at least 407 victims have been identified (meaning there are likely thousands more that have not yet been identified). Of those, the CDC says at least 158 required hospitalization adn 6 individuals died of their illness. The victims come from 44 states.
CDC Announces Salmonella Sundsvall Outbreak Investigation is Closed
The outbreak is officially over, according to the CDC, since the product has now been recalled and the shelf-life of the cantaloupe has expired. But while the outbreak is over, the litigation has just begun. At lest two individuals have now filed lawsuits in the Salmonella Sundsvall Cantaloupe Outbreak – one a Texas resident, and one who is a resident of Illinois. The Texas resident alleges that she went out to eat with her family on November 10, 2023, at AA China Super Buffet located at 1045 Wilshire Blvd, Burleson, Texas 76028. While eating at the restaurant, she consumed honeydew melon, cantaloupe, and grapes. According to the Salmonella Sundsvall Outbreak Texas lawsuit, the next day she began to experience gastrointestinal issues such as diarrhea, nausea, and stomach cramps. As the hours passed, her condition deteriorated, and her family began to worry. By late in the day, they noticed that she had became delirious and was having difficulty distinguishing family members. They rushed her to the hospital where she remined for nearly a week.
A Pennsylvania woman also suffered from consuming cantaloupe, according to her Illinois Salmonella Sundsvall Outbreak lawsuit. In her cantaloupe lawsuit, she alleges she purchased pre-sliced cantaloupe from Aldi’s, located at 100 Costco Dr., Pittsburg, PA 15205, and consumed it. According to the Complaint, a few days after consuming the cantaloupe product she began experiencing symptoms of Salmonella such as diarrhea, nausea, and sharp stomach cramps. When she could no longer bear the symptoms, she went to UPMC Mercy where she was tested and the results came positive for salmonella. Shortly thereafter the Pennsylvania Department of Health, in compliance with reportable disease protocols, reached out to her to confirm she was part of the cantaloupe salmonella outbreak.
The lead attorney for many of the victims in this outbreak, national food poisoning lawyer Ron Simon, stated: “The calls are just starting to come in for many of the other victims ho were impacted in this outbreak. Most of the victims in the salmonella cantaloupe outbreak have now recovered, though some will continue to suffer ongoing effects of salmonellosis. Those who tested positive for salmonella are likley eligible to bring a claim. We intend to pursue these claims so as to prevent something like this from happening in the future.”
