LIFTOUT IN THE

24-PAGE 2018 AFL SEASON GUIDE Outbreak rocks melon industry

HEALTHY Australians are being urged to buy rockmelons as the industry grapples with the aftermath of a fatal listeria outbreak linked to a rockmelon grower in NSW.

Two elderly Victorians and two elderly people from NSW have died from the outbreak, which has infected 17 elderly people across the country and led to a huge reduction in rockmelon sales.

“We’d like people to buy them (rockmelons) ... everyone who is a healthy adult and is not pregnant or immunocompromised can eat them,” Australian Melon Association industry development manager Dianne Fullelove said.

The contamination was linked to a grower at Nericon near Griffith with the grower voluntarily ceasing production on February 23.

All affected fruit has since been removed from the supply chain domestically and in the export market.

But the impact on other melon businesses across Australia has been severe with sales dropping more than 90 per cent, Ms Fullelove said.

“A lot of fruit is unpicked in fields and will have to be dumped as there is no market for it,” she said.

The industry is reminding consumers of the safe ways to eat fruit. Cut fruit should be refrigerated and should not be left outside for more than two hours.

Whole fruit should be washed on the outside, cut on a clean cutting board and the skin should be cut from the outside from the top to the bottom rather than through the middle.