Anyone knows if the crops were sold in some kind of kitchen-ready form (e.g. chopped into cubes already)?
I always thought salmonella is mainly an issue with animal-based foods such as meat, eggs, raw milk etc. and that veggies or fruits are only affected indirectly if they are washed with contamined water, fecals etc.
Part of the recall included prepped cut fruit products. I don't know the full extent of the recall, but that made me think it was kitchen related
Edit:
It says it’s investigating other potential cases and notes the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also probing a salmonella outbreak linked to cantaloupes they describe as being the same genetic strain as the one in Canada. U.S. health officials said two people had died and 45 people were hospitalized nationwide due to the outbreak as of Friday.
Weird, it's a genetic strain. Maybe it's more susceptible to contamination?
Cantaloupe is extra suseptible to this I've been told due to the rough ridges and indents on the rind. Much harder to clean than other melon varieties.