Cantaloupe Listeria Outbreak Tops List in Annual Survey Commissioned by Hunter Public Relations

MOD-50774_Top10List.jpgAccording to Hunter Public Relations, Food safety tops the list of its annual survey asking Americans to choose the most significant food story of 2011. Even in a year when global food prices hit record highs and both restaurant menus and retail food labels got a new look, the safety of the American food supply dominated the headlines and consumers took notice. The survey was commissioned by Hunter Public Relations, a leading public relations agency specializing in the food and beverage industry.

After polling 1,000 Americans, the following were named the top three food-related stories of 2011:

#1: Twenty-Nine Deaths Caused by Cantaloupe Listeria Outbreak
At the time of the survey, 29 people had died with 133 made ill from tainted cantaloupe in 2011. Traced to bacteria growing on packing equipment at Colorado’s Jensen Farms, the incident was already the second largest listeria outbreak in U.S. history.

At 30 deaths and 1 miscarriage included in 146 sickened, the cantaloupe listeria outbreak in now the most deadly.