Melon growers looking for answers after outbreak

It follows a nation-wide recall, issued on February 28 for rockmelons on supermarket shelves between February 9 and 23. 

The call came after two elderly Victorian residents and two elderly people from NSW died, after consuming the infected fruit.

The outbreak affected a further 17 elderly residents across the country.

The contamination was linked to Rombola Family Farms at Nericon, near Griffith, with the grower voluntarily ceasing production on February 23.

All affected fruit has since been removed from the domestic and international supply chain. 

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But despite being given the all clear from the NSW Food authority, farmers with clean fruit have had to dump and spray out their healthy crops, while they await the findings of an investigation. 

As a result, the industry has suffered an estimated 90 per cent reduction in rockmelon sales across the board and clean fruit on shelves has been devalued. 

One Riverina rockmelon farmer – not linked to the listeria outbreak – Jamie Schembri said sales reductions were only part of the problem. 

He said growers were staring down the barrel of a season without profits and an unfairly damaged reputation.

Mr Schembri said being left in the dark was frustrating, especially when other product recalls publicly specified which brand was affected. 

With everyday residents unsure about listeria or the strict processes growers followed to eliminate it on farm, Mr Schembri said farmers and agents were being unfairly tainted with the same brush.

“Sanitising and cleaning processes are dealt with on farm,” Mr Schembri said.

“The processes follow strict requirements at all levels.” 

He said no farmer had completed their harvest, so there would be no one who had escaped the aftermath of the outbreak. 

He said he felt the investigation had not been handled fairly, with residents and farmers now demanding answers.

“We don’t know what is going on,” Mr Schembri said.

“Other farms have been investigated and all been cleared, but until the investigation is complete, we can’t speculate about what happened.”

THE Australian melon industry is implementing a program to work closely with melon growers to ensure all food safety standards are met and exceeded. 

This program will include individual support for all rockmelon growers to manage their food safety programs and training days to deliver the most up-to-date research knowledge.

Australian Melon Association industry development manager, Dianne Fullelove said the impact on other melon businesses has been severe with sales reduced by more than 90.

“A lot of fruit is unpicked in fields and will have to be dumped as there is no market for it. This has had an adverse flow-on effect to the regional communities that rely on these farms,” Mrs Fullelove said. 

“This incident has caused a severe impact on our export markets with a number of countries raising concerns.

“We want to reassure importing countries that all affected fruit has been removed from the supply chain.”

Australian melon growers use HACCP-based food safety systems to ensure that their fruit is free of food safety hazards.

“We are taking this outbreak very seriously and have met with a number of stakeholders to work together to meet our market and trading partners expectations,” Mrs Fullelove said.

ROMBOLA Family Farms has reassured the community it is investigating the source of the bacteria.

In a statement, the business said it remained ever vigilant to food safety and contamination risks and are focused on working to achieve a resolution for all stakeholders.

“We have been working cooperatively with the Authority, and directly with the entire supply chain, to assist with further investigations and to identify, quarantine and remedy the source of the listeria,” the statement said.

Financial Controller for Hanwood Fruit and Vegetable Wholesaler Rinaland, Brad Stinson, said while he appreciates the difficulty Rombola Family Farms faces, there are concerns over job and profit losses across the Riverina in the backlash.

When asked if he would continue to buy produce, namely melons, from the Riverina, Woolworths spokesperson, Adam Quinlan, said the company takes food safety seriously and it awaits guidance from the NSW Food Health Authority, but “remain committed to the industry and the Riverina region.”

However Coles Supermarket said rockmelons would remain off sale until the investigation into recent contamination issues has been resolved and gave no indication as to when sales would resume.

“At Coles we take food safety very seriously and, as such, rockmelons will remain off sale until we are confident that the investigation into recent contamination issues has been resolved,” a spokeswoman said.

The announcement disclosing Rombola Family Farms as the source of the outbreak was made by the NSW Food Authority.

The Authority said they were working with Rombola’s to determine the exact cause of the outbreak.

Rombola Family Farms have taken all actions to voluntarily suspend operations in the potentially affected types of melons, “in line with our commitment to upholding the best interests of consumers.”