DENVER (AP) - The Food and Drug Administration is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine the source of contaminated cantaloupe blamed for a multistate outbreak of listeriosis.
Several Colorado grocery stores have removed cantaloupe from shelves, though there has been no official recall.
More than two dozen people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes have been reported in Colorado, Indiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Montana and Texas, and four have died. Health officials say most consumed whole cantaloupes, most likely marketed from the Rocky Ford region, about 130 miles southeast of Denver.
Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo., said Wednesday it is voluntarily recalling cantaloupe it shipped to Illinois, Wyoming, Tennessee, Utah, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, New Mexico, North Carolina, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania between July 29 and Sept. 10.
"They're just being extra careful. They don't want to take chances," Jensen Farms spokeswoman Amy Philpott said.
It wasn't immediately known how many cantaloupes were involved. The family farm hadn't yet estimated its potential financial losses, Philpott said.
Colorado health officials weren't immediately aware Wednesday evening of any other farms participating in voluntary recalls.