Australians and the country's trading partners have not been properly reassured that a recent rockmelon-related listeria outbreak is under control and won't be repeated, the federal opposition has claimed.
Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon says the federal government has responded poorly to the outbreak, following the sixth Australian death linked to the infection.
Demand for rockmelons has dropped by 90 per cent since the outbreak was revealed in February, Mr Fitzgibbon said, while exports to Indonesia and Singapore have closed.
"News that a sixth death has occurred due to the listeria outbreak in rockmelons is devastating news for the families involved and will further impact the Australian rockmelon industry," Mr Fitzgibbon said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The Turnbull government's lack of a response to the listeria outbreak and the crisis in the industry is deafening."
NSW Health on Tuesday revealed an elderly NSW woman had become the sixth Australian to die in the outbreak last week.
Three Victorians and three people from NSW have now died as a result of the outbreak, which has infected 19 mainly elderly people and was also linked to a miscarriage in Victoria.
The outbreak is linked to a single farm in the NSW Riverina region, which voluntarily halted production on February 23 after it was identified as the source of the bacterial infection.
Listeria is particularly dangerous for pregnant women, their unborn babies and elderly people, and can cause death in people with compromised immune systems.
Australian Associated Press
