Just how do you contaminate cantelopes and melons?

[hedgehog]

[BOG PERSON]

1. you rub 'em on your butt

[pnwmom]

2. If the melon is grown in a place fertilized with manure

the outside can be contaminated. If you cut into it without washing it first, you spread the contamination.

[1-Old-Man]

22. Maybe not, I grow cantaloupes in nothing but manure and we've been eating them for years

There is no soil worth mentioning where I live so I got a bunch of cut stones from an old farmhouse chimney that fell down and built raised beds out of them on a terraced hillside. I put in cow manure that was 2 years old to a depth of 2~3 (many truckloads) feet and we started planting in it. The shit was too hot for the first couple of years but once it settled down it started growing great melons. We eat lots and lots of them and have for years - never a single health problem.

[pnwmom]

23. And some people smoke cigarettes for years and don't die of lung disease. So? n/t

[piratefish08]

24. 2 year old manure vs. fresh runoff filled with disease.....

i plant gardens in the areas of our filed that were inhabited by pigs 2 years ago....... time kills the bad and leaves the good.


fresh chicken shit is fine - super high nitrogen and no worms......

[msongs]

3. water/fertilize them with contaminated water/animal waste nt

[Liberal Veteran]

4. Place them in a room with Fox News on the radio.

Also I think the 5 second rule applies.

[HubertHeaver]

5. Its not easy

Just what do you have in mind?

[Speck Tater]

6. Until it is cut open, only the OUTSIDE is contaminated.

When the knife is run through it the contamination is carried to the inside.

[jody]

7. Plants can take up contaminates from the soil and water. Japan is finding that out with its nuclear

tragedy.

[FLyellowdog]

8. Why do you want to?

[spinbaby]

9. Basic food safety

If a melon's rind is contaminated and the skin is nicked or bruised, the inside will also quickly become contaminated. Melon--because it has a neutral pH--is an ideal medium for bacteria. It's as perishable as meat, but it's common for it to be left out at room temperature and then eaten. Be careful with melon.

[Javaman]

10. Are you planning something? nt

[hedgehog]

15. No - just trying to figure out why the fruit is being recalled.

[Scootaloo]

11. Contaminants on the rind

when you prepare your melon, scrub it under running water with a brush. A rinse isn't enough, especially with rough-rinded melons.

Unfortunately, thin-skinned melons like canteloupes can be contaminated before your knife ever touches them - damage to the rind while in the field, during harvesting, transport etc, can go unnoticed, and allows the bacteria into the flesh.

[hedgehog]

14. I hadn't thought of the damage to the rind.

I've never been able to eat cantaloupe or melon; now I'm wondering if I was reacting to the fruit or to contaminants!

[Scootaloo]

16. Probably the fruit

Unless your "reaction" is botulism or listeriosis

[lonestarnot]

12. By going poopee in the field in which they are picked w/o facilities for poopee or hand washing. By

planting in or near contaminents, by crapping on the cantelope/melon.

[kestrel91316]

17. dingdingdingdingding!

[cherokeeprogressive]

19. +++++++++

[rateyes]

21. there ya go!

[LiberalEsto]

13. In some cases. growers fail to provide adequate restroom facilities for farm workers

As a result, they have no choice but to go in the fields.

[DeSwiss]

18. Try this link:

Listeria and Cantaloupe- 6 Things You Need to Know

[NJCher]

20. can be up to four weeks

After eating the cantaloupe if it's listeriosis.

Thirteen people have died in this outbreak. From eating cantaloupe!

[pinboy3niner]

27. My local supermarket has cantaloupe on sale this week

[Motown_Johnny]

25. You have fecal matter on your hands when you pick it. Then when someone cuts into the

melon the knife contaminates the interior of the melon and the part you eat.

[HopeHoops]

28. Chicken shit for fertilizer.

[CanonRay]

29. The outbreak in Colorado last year was caused by the conveyer belts

which were wet. Salmonella on the belt transferred to the melons.

[slackmaster]

30. By handling them with hands that are contaminated with fecal matter containing a live pathogen

Use your imagination, and always wash your hands before handling food.