Today the FDA and CDC announced that cantaloupe collected from Chamberlain Farms Produce, Inc., based in Owensville, Indiana, has tested positive for the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak strain that has so far sickened 178 people from 21 states. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (13), Arkansas (3), California (2), Georgia (3), Illinois (21), Indiana (18), Iowa (7), Kentucky (56), Massachusetts (2), Michigan (6), Minnesota (4), Mississippi (5), Missouri (12), New Jersey (2), North Carolina (3), Ohio (4), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (3), Tennessee (6), Texas (2), and Wisconsin (4). 62 ill persons have been hospitalized. Two deaths have been reported in Kentucky.
FDA investigators were at the farm from August 14 to August 16 collecting samples from surface areas and from cantaloupe. So far joint investigations by state, local, and federal authorities point to cantaloupe from Chamberlain Farms as a source of the outbreak. According to earlier reports, officials were exploring other possible sources and whether other types of melon were involved. Earlier in the investigation, tests by Kentucky’s state public health lab found the outbreak strain in samples from two cantaloupes collected from a retail location. (see, past Cantaloupe Outbreaks)