Yuma, Arizona
U.S.: Grant to create less dangerous melons
Seven other universities across the county also got a piece of the 4 million dollar pie to help with this project. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the past ten years melons have accounted for more than 40 outbreaks of food borne illness in the United States. Cantaloupes in particular cause more than half of melon-related food borne outbreaks.
“The reason for the project is that cantaloupes have a netting on the fruit on the outside that tends to harbour some of the diseases in the food safety area like salmonella and some other bacteria. The reason this project is happening is because we are one of the biggest producers of cantaloupes in the country,” said farm superintendent Humberto Hernandez at the Yuma Agriculture Center.
Even when cleaning the melon, it is very difficult to get the bacteria out of the rough rind. They can then easily spread to the inside of the fruit, which people then ingest.
Kyma.com reported how Yuma received a new type of seed from researchers at Texas A & M, which they hope makes a softer rind. The Yuma Ag Center just planted these seeds at the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA) and there they will observe how the seeds will do in the dry desert climate.
