Cut Cantaloupes Pose Hazard : Safety: A salmonella outbreak is making federal officials label cut melons as “potentially hazardous.”

Federal health officials have taken the extraordinary step of classifying cut melons, typically sold in salad bars and at supermarket produce counters, as a “potentially hazardous food” requiring special handling by retailers and restaurateurs, according to a recent internal government memorandum.

The unusual action comes after two widespread, major outbreaks of salmonella contamination were linked to sliced cantaloupes, the most recent in June.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s analysis of the latest incident, which infected about 300 people in more than 14 states and two Canadian provinces, stated the poisoning most likely occurred after the people “obtained cantaloupe from salad bars.”

Federal officials believe that the fruit’s outer surface or peel becomes contaminated from contact with the soil, which can host harmful bacteria that may be initially introduced by fertilizer or contaminated water from sewage run-off. The bacteria enters the fruit’s flesh only when the melon is cut or sliced. Left unrefrigerated, the cut fruit provides the perfect environment for the growth of bacteria, such as salmonella, to levels that could infect humans.

The designation of cut melons as a “potentially hazardous food” means that the fruit must be handled with the same extreme care given to raw meats, poultry, seafood and eggs. Melons are the first produce item to be so classified.

The contamination problem arises at a time when supermarkets, in particular, have placed great emphasis on selling cut melons as a convenience to consumers in one- or two-person households. Salad bars featuring fruit, both in supermarkets and restaurants, have also proliferated.

The June episode, which was believed to have been caused by melons grown in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, is the fifth such case involving salmonellosis and cantaloupes reported to health officials in this country. The melon season in Texas has since concluded and most cantaloupes now in the market are California-grown. No illnesses have been linked to the California crop.

A produce industry representative said that consumers should not be “unnecessarily alarmed” by the government’s recent action.

“The term potentially hazardous food is more of a technical or regulatory designation,” said John McClung, vice president of the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Assn., an Alexandria, Va.-based trade group. “The public does not need to be alarmed, and that designation shouldn’t scare people away from consuming melons.”

The recent decision reverses action taken in 1986 when FDA stated that “The rare growth of infectious or toxicogenic organisms in these (plant) foods does not justify designating uncooked, (sliced) plant food as potentially hazardous.”

The evidence indicating there is a potential health problem with cut cantaloupe, however, has become irrefutable in the meantime.

“Two factors are mentioned in all of the (five previous) outbreaks noted,” the FDA memorandum stated. “In each episode, the melons were contaminated with some species of salmonella. Furthermore, all reports mentioned melons which had been precut and held at unknown temperatures for some period of time at retail prior to being purchased and consumed.”

According to FDA, all age groups are susceptible to salmonella food poisoning, but the symptoms--diarrhea, vomiting, fever--are most severe in the case of infants, the elderly and chronically ill individuals, particularly those with weakened immune systems. AIDS patients are “at very high risk.”

While the recent episode of contaminated melons was widespread, it was dwarfed by a similar case in late 1989 and early 1990 that was linked to imported fruit. More than 25,000 people in 30 states became ill after eating cantaloupes from salad bars. Two deaths were also reported. The case prompted FDA officials to analyze imported cantaloupes for harmful bacteria, and melons from “several production areas” tested positive for salmonella.

Even so, at one point the FDA considered the recent June outbreak so severe that it recommended that retailers scrub whole melons with a non-toxic detergent solution, rinse them in clean water and then dip the fruit in a chlorine solution for 60 seconds in order to destroy any harmful bacteria. When produce and supermarket industry representatives complained that the process would be unworkable--considering the large volume of melons sold during the summer season--the agency relented. Instead, FDA established several mandatory guidelines that retailers and restaurateurs must now follow in handling all cut or sliced melons.

They are:

* Purchase fruit only from reputable suppliers.

* Refrigerate melons at 45 degrees or lower.

* Before cutting melons make sure they are thoroughly cleaned with water.

* Use only sanitized utensils and surfaces to cut melons.

* After cutting make sure the fruit is stored at 45 degrees till served.

* Discard cut melons after four hours.

A supermarket industry representative said that most grocers are complying with the federal guidelines.

“It is a very labor-intensive process,” said John Farquhar, vice president of the Food Marketing Institute in Washington. However, Farquhar said that the burden of handling watermelons under the new guidelines poses a hardship to grocers, and his trade group will ask FDA to alter the formula for that fruit. He also said that growers and shippers will be asked to clean the fruit before it reaches the supermarkets.

McClung said that the prescribed guidelines are “well designed and will take care of the problem.”

“It is not in our interest to make people ill from melons,” he said.

FDA believes consumers preparing melons in the home are at less risk than in commercial settings because the melon is generally sliced and eaten immediately. Nevertheless, the agency recommends that consumers follow all the above guidelines.

Ironically, the cantaloupe and salmonella problem fulfills a prediction made by many in the produce industry. To deflect public concern about pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables in previous years, produce representatives maintained that consumers should be more concerned about the presence of harmful bacteria in the food supply rather than any chemical contamination.