Scrub your melons

“You’re not pregnant, are you?” That was the first I’d heard about the listeria-tainted cantaloupes.

Photo credit goes to my sister, she posted this on Facebook and then tagged me and my sisters. Nice, Karla.

My sister and her boyfriend went on vacation to Colorado and they brought back what they were told were, “some of the best cantaloupes.” Sweet Rocky Ford homegrown in Colorado. However, a week after she’d given them to me (and my 4 other sisters), she heard on the news how that brand was being taken off of the shelves because of a listeria outbreak. And, listeria is a big deal when you’re pregnant as it passes through the blood to the fetus. It’s scary stuff. And, what the heck, I thought the only possibility of getting that was eating uncooked lunch meats!

But, of course, I wasn’t concerned because I wasn’t pregnant. What’s the worst that could happen to me? I’m a pretty healthy lady. (;

Fast-forward 2 weeks, I’m at work and a guy asks me if I’d heard about the cantaloupes that were killing people (or something like that)? I told him, yeah, I’d heard that they had listeria, but I didn’t really know it could kill people. Apparently, like most bacterias it could effect the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.

Hmm, makes sense, but then it made me curious as to what exactly it could do to a person. The thing that stood out the most was the incubation period. 4 weeks! What?!? You mean I could have eaten the cantaloupe 4 weeks ago and just now be getting sick? Nice.

Click here to read more about the listeria-tainted cantaloupes from CBS News.

So, remember, scrub those melons before you cut into them. I guess that’s the only way to prevent contamination from happening, heck I don’t even know if that will work. But I can’t imagine never eating another cantaloupe again.