FDA Investigation of the Cantaloupe Salmonella Outbreak (2023)

Table of Contents

1. What the FDA Did
2. How the Illnesses Were Linked to Cantaloupe
3. The Two Outbreak Strains: Sundsvall and Oranienburg
4. The Recalls: Whole Melons, Then Pre-Cut Fruit
5. How the Case Count Grew
6. What the FDA Told Consumers and Businesses
7. Symptoms and Who Is Most at Risk, per the FDA
8. The Final Count
9. What the Investigation Does Not Do
10. Dates and Status as of 18 October 2026
11. How the Investigation Fits Other FDA Food-Safety Actions
12. Primary Documents
13. Key Research Papers
14. Connections
15. Featured Videos

1. What the FDA Did

The FDA’s outbreak page, “Outbreak Investigation of Salmonella: Cantaloupes (November 2023),” opens its first update, dated 17 November 2023, with this statement: the FDA and CDC, “in collaboration with Canadian, and U.S. state and local partners, are investigating an outbreak of Salmonella Sundsvall infections.” The page was then updated on 24, 27 and 30 November, 7 and 15 December 2023, and a final time on 19 January 2024.

Over those two months the FDA’s work, as its documents describe it, took four forms:

• A traceback investigation. The FDA traced the implicated melons back through the supply chain and identified three U.S. produce suppliers of the potentially contaminated whole cantaloupes, one based in Arizona and two in California.
• Sampling and laboratory testing. The FDA and industry partners collected and analyzed cantaloupe samples; two matched the outbreak strain (section 3).
• Public advisories. Each update told consumers, restaurants, retailers and wholesalers which products were involved and what the FDA advised (section 6).
• Recall oversight. The suppliers recalled whole melons, and companies that had cut, repackaged or mixed those melons into other products recalled them in turn. The FDA posted a compiled list of these recalls on its “Major Product Recalls” page (section 4).

None of this was a regulation. An outbreak investigation is an operational public-health response; it is not published as a rule in the Federal Register and does not change the law (section 9).

Back to Table of Contents

2. How the Illnesses Were Linked to Cantaloupe

The first link came from across the border. According to the FDA’s 17 November update, whole genome sequencing showed that the bacteria from ill people in Canada were “genetically related to the ill people in the United States,” and Canada had already “linked illnesses to imported cantaloupes” sold under one label. Whole genome sequencing is a laboratory method that reads the full DNA of the bacteria isolated from each patient (or from a food sample), so that cases caused by the same strain can be grouped together even when they occur far apart.

The second line of evidence was what sick people reported eating. The CDC interviewed patients, and the FDA reported its figures in each update. The share who reported eating cantaloupe stayed high as the outbreak grew:

• As of 17 November 2023: 15 of 29 cases interviewed reported exposure to cantaloupe.
• As of 28 November 2023: 40 of 52 cases reported exposure to cantaloupe; 19 people specifically reported eating pre-cut cantaloupe.
• As of 7 December 2023: 78 of 105 cases reported exposure to cantaloupe; 42 specifically reported pre-cut cantaloupe.
• As of 15 December 2023: 107 of 145 cases reported exposure to cantaloupe; 56 specifically reported pre-cut cantaloupe.

The third line was the product itself. The FDA’s final update states that, of the cantaloupe samples collected by the FDA and industry partners, two were positive for Salmonella Sundsvall, and whole genome sequencing “confirmed that the strain of Salmonella found in isolates associated with these two samples matched the same strain of Salmonella found in ill people.” The FDA added that “Industry’s cooperation in collecting and sharing samples with FDA for further analysis provided additional information that helped resolve this outbreak.”

Back to Table of Contents

3. The Two Outbreak Strains: Sundsvall and Oranienburg

Salmonella is a large group of bacteria that is divided into many types, called serotypes, each with its own name. Two serotypes were tied to this outbreak:

• Salmonella Sundsvall — the strain named in the first FDA update and the one matched to the two positive cantaloupe samples.
• Salmonella Oranienburg — added by the CDC after the 24 November update, once the Canadian Food Inspection Agency found this strain in a sample of the implicated cantaloupes. The FDA’s 30 November update reported that two people in the United States were infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Oranienburg.

The FDA also reported that one isolate from the sampling tested positive for a third serotype, Salmonella Newport, but stated that “it was not associated with the outbreak.”

The site’s background page on Salmonella describes a different serotype, Salmonella Typhimurium; it is linked here for general background on the bacteria, not as the outbreak strain.

Back to Table of Contents

4. The Recalls: Whole Melons, Then Pre-Cut Fruit

The recalls moved in two waves, as the FDA’s compiled recall page and outbreak updates set out.

Whole cantaloupes

The first wave covered whole fresh cantaloupes carrying a “Product of Mexico” label. The FDA’s recall page lists company announcements from the first supplier on 9, 16 and 22 November 2023 (the FDA’s 24 November update says that supplier expanded its recall), from a second supplier on 22 November and from a third on 24 November. The FDA’s update dated 27 November says the third supplier’s melons had been distributed between 18 and 26 October in California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin and sold in various retail supermarkets. Retailers and wholesalers received the recalled melons in boxes or cartons from these three suppliers.

Pre-cut cantaloupe and fruit mixes

The second wave came from companies that had used the recalled melons as raw material. The FDA’s compiled list describes them as recalls “conducted by companies that further processed the cantaloupes by using them as ingredients in new products or by repackaging them.” Its table lists six such processor recalls, dated from 14 November to 5 December 2023, covering:

• cantaloupe chunks and cubes;
• fruit mixes and medleys containing cantaloupe;
• fruit cups and trays containing cantaloupe, and containers of cut cantaloupe;
• fresh-cut fruit cup, clamshell and tray products.

Companies also issued public notifications for recalled products sold at retail locations, and the FDA’s 15 December update reports one more supermarket recall covering cantaloupe bought between 23 October and 11 November 2023. The FDA said its compiled list “will be updated as the agency receives notifications of new recalls.”

According to the final update, the recalled whole and pre-cut cantaloupes and products containing them “were sold or distributed from September to early December 2023,” and product distribution was “Nationwide and Canada.”

A recall of this kind is carried out by the companies themselves; the FDA’s documents describe each one as a company announcement or a company-initiated recall, which the agency then compiled and publicized.

Back to Table of Contents

5. How the Case Count Grew

Each FDA update carried the CDC’s latest count. The “latest onset date” is the date on which the most recently counted patient began to feel ill.

• 24 November 2023: 99 cases in 32 states; latest onset 10 November.
• As of 28 November 2023: 117 cases in 34 states; latest onset 14 November.
• 7 December 2023: 230 cases in 38 states; latest onset 20 November.
• 15 December 2023: 302 cases in 42 states; latest onset 28 November.
• 19 January 2024 (final): 407 illnesses in 44 states; last illness onset 25 December 2023.

Between the 24 November count and the final count eight weeks later, the number of reported cases rose from 99 to 407. Until the final update, each FDA notice ended with the statement that “The investigation is ongoing to determine whether additional products are linked to illnesses.”

Back to Table of Contents

6. What the FDA Told Consumers and Businesses

The advice below is the FDA’s own, reported as worded on its outbreak page.

• The headline advisory. From the first update the FDA’s recommendation was that “consumers, restaurants, and retailers should not eat, sell, or serve recalled cantaloupe.” The final version extends this to wholesalers and to “recalled products containing cantaloupe.”
• Frozen and uncertain products. The FDA noted that the recalled products “should be past shelf-life,” that consumers who froze cantaloupe products should check whether they are part of the recalls, and that “If you are unsure of where your cantaloupes are from, you should discard them.” Its 30 November update put the same point for cut fruit: anyone who cannot tell whether a cantaloupe, pre-cut cantaloupe or product containing it is part of the recall was told by the FDA not to eat or use it and to throw it away.
• Cleaning. The FDA advised anyone who bought or received recalled cantaloupe to follow its safe handling and cleaning advice and to use “extra vigilance in cleaning and sanitizing any surfaces and containers that may have come in contact with recalled products to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.”
• Pre-cut fruit manufacturers. The FDA stated that pre-cut fruit manufacturers “should ensure proper cleaning and sanitizing of food contact surfaces and evaluate the need to recall additional product due to the potential for cross-contamination in the processing facility.” Cross-contamination here means bacteria passing from a contaminated melon to equipment and from there to other fruit cut on the same line.
• Illness. The FDA directed people who think they may have symptoms of a Salmonella infection after eating recalled cantaloupe to contact their healthcare provider, and gave a route for reporting illnesses or adverse events to the agency.

Back to Table of Contents

7. Symptoms and Who Is Most at Risk, per the FDA

The FDA’s outbreak page describes Salmonella infection this way: illness “usually occurs within 12 to 72 hours after eating contaminated food and usually lasts four to seven days.” The symptoms it lists are diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.

The same page states that “Children younger than five, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to have severe infections.” In this outbreak the CDC counted 158 hospitalizations among 407 reported illnesses (section 8).

Decisions about a suspected infection belong with a clinician; the site’s Bacterial Illnesses hub gives general background on bacterial infections.

Back to Table of Contents

8. The Final Count

The FDA’s 19 January 2024 update reports the CDC’s closing figures:

• Total illnesses: 407
• Hospitalizations: 158
• Deaths: 6
• Last illness onset: 25 December 2023
• States with cases: 44 — Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming.
• Product distribution: nationwide and Canada.

On that date, the update states, “CDC announced that the outbreak is over” and “FDA’s investigation is complete.” Hospitalization was reported for more than a third of the people counted (158 of 407).

Back to Table of Contents

9. What the Investigation Does Not Do

• It does not create a rule. The FDA issued advisories and oversaw voluntary recalls; it made no new regulation for melons. A check of the Federal Register through 18 October 2026 found no FDA document on cantaloupe after the outbreak.
• It does not cover all cantaloupe. The advisories concern recalled cantaloupes and recalled products containing them, sold or distributed from September to early December 2023 — not cantaloupe in general.
• It does not name a cause on the farm. The FDA documents reported here describe the traceback, the sampling and the recalls; they do not report how or where the melons became contaminated. Any later FDA follow-up reports were not part of the documents used for this page.
• It does not count every illness. The figures are the CDC’s reported cases, which the FDA relayed; they are people whose infections were identified and linked to the outbreak strains.

Back to Table of Contents

10. Dates and Status as of 18 October 2026

• 9 November 2023: first company announcement of a whole-cantaloupe recall listed on the FDA’s recall page.
• 14 November 2023: first pre-cut fruit recall in the FDA’s compiled table.
• 17 November 2023: FDA and CDC announce the investigation of Salmonella Sundsvall infections.
• 22–24 November 2023: recall expanded; second and third suppliers recall whole cantaloupes.
• 30 November 2023: FDA update reports that Salmonella Oranienburg has been added to the investigation.
• 5 December 2023: last processor recall in the FDA’s compiled table.
• 25 December 2023: last illness onset.
• 19 January 2024: CDC declares the outbreak over; FDA’s investigation complete.

Status as of 18 October 2026: ended. The FDA lists the investigation’s status as “Ended,” and its page carries the note “content current as of 01/19/2024.” No Federal Register rule followed, and no later FDA document reviewed for this page changed that status.

Back to Table of Contents

11. How the Investigation Fits Other FDA Food-Safety Actions

The cantaloupe outbreak was one of several food-safety investigations the FDA ran in 2023. Unlike a rulemaking, which sets standards in advance, an outbreak investigation responds after people fall ill: it identifies the food, traces it, tests it and gets it off the market through recalls and public warnings. The FDA files its outbreak pages under “Outbreaks of Foodborne Illness,” and lists recalls of this scale on its “Major Product Recalls” page, which in October 2026 still carries the 2023 cantaloupe list among other produce and food recalls.

In the same weeks of late 2023, the FDA was also investigating lead in cinnamon applesauce pouches, a contamination case that ran from October to December 2023. Earlier in the year the agency took steps on powdered infant formula safety, which centred on Cronobacter and Salmonella. Later outbreak investigations reported on the site include the infant botulism outbreak linked to powdered formula (2025); the lead story continued in lead in ground cinnamon (2024).

The full list of the year’s actions is on the FDA Actions of 2023 hub.

Back to Table of Contents

12. Primary Documents

1. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Outbreak Investigation of Salmonella: Cantaloupes (November 2023). Outbreak investigation page with dated updates of 17, 24, 27 and 30 November, 7 and 15 December 2023 and 19 January 2024; status “Ended”; content current as of 19 January 2024 — fda.gov outbreak investigation
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 2023 Recalls of Food Products Associated with Cantaloupes due to the Potential Risk of Salmonella. Major Product Recalls page, content current as of 13 December 2023 — fda.gov compiled recall list

There is no Federal Register document or docket for this action: outbreak investigations and recall notices are published on fda.gov rather than as rules. Both FDA pages name the label, suppliers, processors and retailers involved; this page does not. One update on the FDA outbreak page is headed “November 27, 2027”; it sits between the 24 and 30 November 2023 updates and reports a recall dated 24 November, so the year appears to be a typing error for 2023.

Back to Table of Contents

Key Research Papers

1. Canning M, Bazaco M, Weed B, Birhane MG, Whichard J, Gieraltowski L, Robyn MP, Marshall K, Torres J, Viazis S, Carstens CK, Armstrong M, Schwensohn C (2025). Outbreaks Linked to Melons, United States, 2012-2021. Journal of Food Protection 88(7):100536 — PubMed PMID: 40348087
2. Rose-Martel M, Tamber S (2025). Analysis of Outbreak Data Reveals Factors Contributing to Salmonellosis Outbreaks Linked to Cantaloupes. Journal of Food Protection 88(1):100404 — PubMed PMID: 39551262
3. Schwensohn C, Schneider B, Jenkins E, Wellman A, Federman SS, Oni O, Stone N, Adams J, Gieraltowski L (2024). Notes from the Field: Rapidly Linking an Outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium Infections to Domestically Grown Cantaloupes Through Early Collaboration - United States, 2022. MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 73(5):114-115 — PubMed PMID: 38329908
4. McGeoch LJ, Hoban A, Sawyer C, Rabie H, Painset A, Browning L, et al. (2024). Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak associated with cantaloupe consumption, the United Kingdom and Portugal, September to November 2023. Epidemiology and Infection 152:e78 — PubMed PMID: 38705587
5. McCollum JT, Cronquist AB, Silk BJ, Jackson KA, O'Connor KA, Cosgrove S, et al. (2013). Multistate outbreak of listeriosis associated with cantaloupe. New England Journal of Medicine 369(10):944-953 — PubMed PMID: 24004121
6. Gautam D, Dobhal S, Payton ME, Fletcher J, Ma LM (2014). Surface survival and internalization of salmonella through natural cracks on developing cantaloupe fruits, alone or in the presence of the melon wilt pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila. PLoS One 9(8):e105248 — PubMed PMID: 25147942

The first two papers review outbreaks linked to melons and cantaloupes; the third and fourth describe other cantaloupe-linked Salmonella outbreaks (United States, 2022; United Kingdom and Portugal, 2023); the fifth describes a large U.S. cantaloupe outbreak caused by a different bacterium, Listeria; the sixth is a laboratory study of how Salmonella survives on and enters cantaloupe fruit. None of them is an FDA document on the 2023 outbreak.

PubMed Topic Searches

1. PubMed: cantaloupe and Salmonella outbreaks
2. PubMed: melons and foodborne outbreaks
3. PubMed: fresh-cut fruit and Salmonella

Back to Table of Contents

Connections

• FDA Actions of 2023
• FDA and Regulation
• Cantaloupe
• Fruits
• Salmonella (background)
• Bacteria
• Bacterial Illnesses
• Lead in Cinnamon Applesauce Pouches (2023)
• Infant Formula Safety Steps (2023)
• Sesame Becomes the Ninth Major Allergen (2023)
• Brominated Vegetable Oil Proposal (2023)
• Lead in Ground Cinnamon (2024)
• Infant Botulism Outbreak Linked to Powdered Formula (2025)

Back to Table of Contents

Featured Videos