The Denver Post reports this morning that the two brothers who grew listeria-contaminated cantaloupe linked to 33 deaths are suing the inspector who gave them a glowing “superior” safety report in 2011 as the deadly melons were shipping to grocery stores.
Ryan and Eric Jensen, whose fourth-generation farm collapsed after they were pounded with lawsuits from victims’ families, claim the inspector gave them misleading advice and “erroneously” represented himself as having “professional expertise.”
The lawsuit filed against Primus Group, a food auditing company based in California, is rare — even in an industry in which favorable audits have preceded the most notorious national food outbreaks.