In the recently released Netflix documentary “Poisoned,” nearly everyone agree that Cantaloupe has been a problematic fruit. Those concerns are now being seen in the U.S. and Canada where 359 people have been sickened, 140 hospitalized and 8 deaths all linked to imported Cantaloupe from Mexico.
In the United States, as of December 6, 230 people infected with one of the outbreak strains of Salmonella have been reported from 38 states. Illnesses started on dates ranging from October 16, 2023, to November 20, 2023. Of 185 people with information available, 96 (52%) have been hospitalized. Ages of ill has been less that 1 to 100 years of age. Twenty-four people resided at long-term care facilities when they got sick. Twenty-three children attended childcare centers when they got sick.
In Canada, as of December 7, there have been 129 laboratory-confirmed cases of Salmonella Soahanina, Sundsvall and Oranienburg illness linked to this outbreak in the following provinces: British Columbia (15), Ontario (17), Quebec (91), Prince Edward Island (2), New Brunswick (2), and Newfoundland and Labrador (2). Individuals became sick between mid-October and mid-November 2023. Forty-four (44) individuals have been hospitalized. Five deaths have been reported. Individuals who became ill are between 0 to 100 years of age. Most of the individuals who became sick are children 5 years of age or younger (35%), or adults 65 years of age or older (45%).
William "Bill" Marler has been a food safety lawyer and advocate since the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box E. coli Outbreak which was chronicled in the book, "Poisoned" and in the recent Netflix documentary by the same name. Bill work has been profiled in the New Yorker, "A Bug in the System;" the Seattle Times, "30 years after the deadly E. coli outbreak, A Seattle attorney still fights for food safety;" the Washington Post, "He helped make burgers safer, Now he is fighting food poisoning again;" and several others.
Marler Clark has been in the lead for all the Cantaloupe Outbreaks Lawsuits over the last decades. Here is a sampling: