The listeria outbreak

The outbreak of listeria on the Colorado cantaloupe farm has seen some interesting developments that strike me as new. The right questions now are being asked at the beginning, not at the end. Especially notable is an AP story that was widely picked up across US media.

Those questions are: (1) what is the human cost to the farmer whose farm the cantaloupes came from and the community he lives in and how are they handling the media scrutiny; (2) what caused the outbreak at this farm or the packing house and what does this mean for industrial-scale farming practices, especially in the MidWest and Southern dry belt affected by climate change? Is this an isolated case or are bacteria outbreaks like these going to become more common?

The AP story showed a lonely figure bent over his cantaloupes – his business ruined, lawsuits on the way, aware that even if he has not destroyed the business of other cantaloupe farmers, even more difficult times are on the way for him and his community. It was a sad image. Did he consent to those AP photos aware that he would be blamed? It was a smart move and it puts a human face on the crisis that links them with the devastated families who have lost someone to Listeria. It reminds us that we are all in this together. People who expect others to grow their food for them may not know that farming is a difficult business. Blaming farmers is not productive.

It is unclear how these particular cantaloupes were contaminated. The FDA is looking at the farm’s water supply and the possibility that animals wandered into the fields. Did those animals tread in sewer sludge from an adjacent field or irrigation ditches and what kind of animals would they be? Listeria monocytogenes is a soil bacterium that grows in moist, muddy conditions and is often carried by animals. Usually it poses a threat to deli meat products, hot dogs and dairy products like unpasteurized milk, not fruit and vegetables, but perhaps it’s time to reassess that? Some scientists assign it a Jekyll and Hyde personality because it can be benign much of the time (as a “saprophyte” feeding on decaying vegetation) but then it can turn deadly? Why does it do so? When it infects humans it can be more dangerous than E. Coli, salmonella, Campylobacter and Toxoplasma. It is resilient, often surviving washing and refrigeration.

Is the food supply at genuine risk of more bacterial outbreaks as industrial-scale farming and climate change put stress on land resources, especially the water supplies? Southeast Colorado, like adjacent states to the east and south are now federal disaster areas. Farmers and federal officials are genuinely at a loss for how to respond to these threats in a political climate where those subjects are not taken seriously by half the population. However, for now at least, there is no reason to assume that these types of outbreaks are going to increase.