newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

One of the deadliest outbreaks of food contamination in U.S. history has seen its total number of deaths rise to 29. Health officials said that 139 people have been infected over 28 states.

Eight deaths had occurred in Colorado; five came from New Mexico; three from Kansas; two each from Texas, New York, Missouri and Louisiana; and one each came from Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Wyoming. And the illness caused a pregnant woman to suffer a miscarriage. No deaths have been reported in New Jersey.

MedPage Today reports that Jensen Farms in Colorado recalled Rocky Ford cantaloupes in September, but there still may be contaminated product in people's homes because listeria forms at both room and refrigerator temperatures. And illness can take up to two months to develop after exposure to listeria.

CBS News reports that symptoms of listeria infection include fever, chills, muscle aches, and stiff neck. The illness mostly affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns, and adults with weaker immunity.

According to Reuters, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to Jensen Farms, saying that testing at its plant turned up widespread listeria contamination, which "indicates poor sanitary practices in the facility."

The FDA has identified multiple possible sources of the contamination, including a truck used to transport the cantaloupe, hard to clean facilities and equipment, use of equipment that had been used for another product, and improper methods for the cantaloupe’s cooling and storing.

Fox News reports that Marler Clark attorneys have filed their eighth suit in the outbreak. The latest lawsuit came from the family of an 89-year-old Dallas woman who died 10 days after being admitted to the hospital from a listeria infection.