No details about those sickened, no details about the grower, processor or seller, and no details about the conditions that allowed for the contamination? Where is the “root cause analysis?”

I have a word for the FDA and CDC – “Transparency.”

Thanks to Food Safety News for reporting this out:

The FDA has determined an outbreak of infections from Salmonella Typhimurium was from contaminated cantaloupe and declared its investigation over. 

First posted on Aug. 17 by the Food and Drug Administration, there has been little information available on the outbreak, except for the patient count, which currently stands at 87. The agency did not report the ages of the patients or their states of residence. 

At the first posting, there were 44 confirmed patients. The source of the Salmonella was listed as unknown from Aug. 17 to Oct. 5.

The FDA has been working on traceback, testing and on-site inspections for weeks, but did not reveal what food was being traced. On Oct. 5 it announced that the investigation had determined cantaloupe was the source of the pathogen.

The agency did not report whether the cantaloupe involved was whole fruit or fresh-cut. It also did not reveal a grower, packer, distributor or retailers where the cantaloupe was produced and sold.

“The vehicle of the outbreak was confirmed after the outbreak ended. Given the product(s) were no longer on the market, there was no ongoing risk to public health and no need to avoid eating cantaloupe. Additional information on this outbreak will be forthcoming,” according to the FDA.

The FDA did not report when the implicated cantaloupe was no longer available to the public.