 Just a quick thing before we start, if you want to see all of the b-roll footage from this video, you can over on my second channel and the link will be in the description. This big beauty is a cantaloupe and it cost me a whopping two quid. I don't think I've ever actually cut one up before. Don't be too surprised I'm not much of a melon fan, something about the texture and the wateriness of them just doesn't make me want to eat them. I'm kind of the same with cucumbers as well. Anyway, why am I cutting one up? Mrs Plainly isn't a fan of them either and our daughter prefers mango. Well this rather unassuming fruit would become the centre of one of the largest food contamination cases in recent US history and depending on who you ask it's either the worst or second worst. Who would have thought this unassuming fruit could be so deadly? Just a quick warning, before slicing this I went a little bit mad with the b-roll footage. Welcome to Plainly Of Cool, today we're looking at the United States 2011 Listeria outbreak. It is the 28th of August 2011 and the Colorado Department for Health and Environment has noticed a small spike in Listeriosis. The first patient had been taken to hospital on the 15th of August. Listeriosis is not uncommon with between 800 and 1600 cases reported per year throughout the United States but this little spike which by the 2nd of September was at 7 known cases hinted just slightly as a potential outbreak. The Colorado Department for Health and Environment reported this to the Centre for Disease Control. Now the next bit will quickly run over the days leading up to the CDC's announcement of the outbreak. This runs roughly day by day until the 12th of September 2011 and serves to show what happens behind the scenes before the public are made aware. The strains of Listeria the patients have been infected with are defined on the 6th of September. In doing so allowing the CDC to link any other infections to identify an outbreak. You see it's vital to find out if a person is part of an outbreak or just a single occurrence because an untracked outbreak can be pretty bad news. On the same day two more persons were identified one from Nebraska and another from Texas hinting at the outbreak becoming a multi-state affair. Seven of the patients were interviewed and asked what they had eaten. This is easier said than done as Listeria bacteria can take up to two months to cause symptoms in a victim. Each victim was given a standard CDC questionnaire. From this cantaloupes were identified and three of the questionnaires even gave the brand. Rocky Ford Cantaloupe. A day later on the 7th of September the CDC began a multi-state investigation and armed with this vital information they began to zero in on the outbreak cause. On the 8th of September the CDC issued a supplemental questionnaire created by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to learn more about the cantaloupes eaten by the ill persons. At the same time cantaloupes had been gathered by Colorado officials at retail outlets across the state that the ill persons had shopped at for testing. On the 9th of September the FDA also collected cantaloupes from the same shops for Listeria testing. And the state of Colorado issued warnings to at-risk demographics to the risks of eating contaminated fruit. Just a day later on the 10th of September the FDA and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment had zeroed in on a potential source of the cantaloupes gents and farms. On the same day gents and farms distributor issues a recall of all cantaloupes. On the 11th of September preliminary trace back investigations and cantaloupes samples collected by the CDPHE were contaminated with Listeria hinting that cantaloupes produced and packed at gents and farms marketed as rocky fort for the source of the outbreak. On the 12th of September the outbreak was officially announced to the public by the CDC stating that 15 people in four states have been infected and this number like most outbreaks would only be the tip of the deadly iceberg. The anachronym city of the CDC FDA and CDPHE had identified the source impressively quickly however the crop that had been identified as the epicenter was roughly a 300,000 cantaloupe and it doesn't need me to tell you that this is a loss of potential sickness bombs. On the 14th of September the FDA announced that gents and farms had issued a voluntary recall of all of their produce. But before we continue let's have a look at what Listeria is and how it can make you very ill and potentially kill you. Listeria. Listeria or more precisely for today's video Listeria monocytogenes is a species of pathogenic bacteria that causes the infection Listeriosis. It is named after Quaker, surgeon and absolute mad lad Joseph Lister. His name is also what has been lent to the mouthwash Listerine. Anywho, Listeria monocytogenes can grow on uncooked meats, uncooked vegetables, fruits, pasteurized or unpasteurized milk, foods made from milk and some processed foods. If contaminated food is consumed it can result in a condition called Listeriosis. This happens during digestion when the bacteria penetrates the intestinal tract to cause systemic infections. Listeriosis preys on people with weakened immune systems, the elderly or pregnant women. A person with Listeriosis will usually show a fever, muscle aches, preceded by diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Symptoms can onset as late as two months post exposure and the disease has a mortality rate of around 25%. It is usually treated in the form of antibiotics, most particularly ampicillin. Death toll rises. On the 16th of September a sample of cantaloupe collected by the CDPHE from two retail locations stores supplied by Jensen farms shows an outbreak strain of Listeria and just a few days later the same strain was shown on samples taken from the farm directly. A report was released by the CDC on the 21st of September bringing a number of deaths to 13 and a number of confirmed cases to 72. The next day the FDA assisted by Colorado State and local officials begins environmental assessments at Jensen farms. By the end of September the cases number had risen to 84, the number of deaths had grown to 15 and the number of states involved was 19. The numbers of infected would continue to increase. Remember that it can take up to two months from infection to onset of illness. The CDC would continue updating the public all the way until August 2012, a full year after the initial cases. This is because linking deaths and sickness to the outbreak takes time, where blood samples need to be taken and the L monocytogenes be cultured from it. The final numbers of infected were 147 cases with 33 deaths. Fatalities occurred in the following states, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. Among the persons who died, ages ranged between under one to over 96 years. Sadly, on top of this, one woman who was pregnant at the time of illness had a miscarriage. But how did L monocytogenes make its way into the food chain in the first place? Well, spoiler alert, it would be Jensen farms fault. The investigation. Now the FDA knew Jensen farms was the cause for their extensive patient sample and onsite testing. But that's not the end of the story. You see cantaloupes aren't the most common source of an outbreak. Usually it's unpasteurized milk and certain cheeses. The FDA found four separate Listeria monocytogenes strains in the cantaloupe crop, which they thought was rather unusual. During their investigation on Jensen farms packing sites, they found Listeria on rusty machinery. It was later discovered that much of the equipment had been bought recently second hand from a potato farm. Standing water inside the packing plant was also found to contain Listeria, and had been tracked about facility by staff on their shoes. Infected water was also found on the conveyor belts that had transported the cantaloupes. But although the bacteria was found onsite, the FDA weren't certain as to how it had reached it. Listeria is known to be found in soil, but samples taken from the farm came back clear, which again was pretty strange. Eric and Ryan Jensen, the brothers who owned Jensen farms in Colorado, were interviewed by the FDA, but Jensen's were in charge of maintaining equipment that would wash cantaloupes with antibacterial solutions to sufficiently combat contamination. However, it was found that the Jensen's did not outfit their conveyor systems with a chlorine spray, instead opting to wash the cantaloupes with city water for a longer period of time. This was the first year that they had used the second hand X potato farm equipment, and the FDA had clearly seen that it had not been properly maintained or cleaned. It was also found that the machinery was difficult to clean as well, with many places being hard to reach. It was found that Jensen farms also did not pre-call the cantaloup before putting it into cold storage. By not removing the field heat, it created condensation, creating an ideal condition full of growth of listeria. Jensen farms filed for bankruptcy in 2012, and shortly after criminal charges came unknocking. The charges were for the apparent negligence in equipment maintenance, both brothers pled guilty. They were sentenced to five years probation, six months home detention, and $150,000 each in restitution fees to the victims. Now the disaster, I'm going to rate as a bad day at the office, mainly because the Jensen's weren't intentionally negligent, however, still, quite a few people died. And I'm going to give this disaster a six on my legacy scale. This is a plain default production. All videos on the channel are creative commons, attribution, share or light licensed. The plain default videos are produced by me in a currently just a bit gray and boring corner of southern London, UK. I'd like to thank my Patreons and YouTube members for your financial support, and the rest of you for tuning in every week for your dose of random videos. 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