In continuing coverage, the AP (10/4, Callahan) reports the FDA’s “report on the mid-August inspections at Chamberlain Farm Produce Inc.,” indicates that a Federal inspector “found two strains of salmonella” at the “cantaloupe farm’s fruit-packing plant” in Owensville, Indiana. Additionally, the FDA inspector found “improperly cleaned and apparently rusted and corroded equipment” and also noted that there “appeared to be algae growing in standing water beneath conveyer belts” at the packing plant. “Six days later, the FDA disclosed that genetic testing on salmonella collected at the farm matched the ‘DNA fingerprint’ of the salmonella strain responsible for this summer’s outbreak.” Meanwhile, FDA spokesperson Carla Daniels “said Wednesday that the agency is still investigating, but the Indiana farm is the only farm that’s been linked to the salmonella outbreak to date.”

The Indianapolis Star (10/4, Jacobson) reports that the farm was named as “one of the sources of a salmonella outbreak that caused 270 people to get sick in 26 states, according to the FDA.” Agency officials said that “at least 101 people were hospitalized, and three deaths were reported in Kentucky.” The Pew Center’s Food Safety Campaign Director Sandra Eskin “said poor regulatory standards allow farms to have conditions that cause foodborne illnesses.” However, the FDA is presently, “looking at proposed rules to change its food regulation,” Eskin added.