Singapore
Listeria scare: Significant drop in demand for rockmelons
Several fruit suppliers told reporters that the large drop in demand for the fruit comes after affected batches were found to have been sold in Singapore. These have subsequently been recalled by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority.
Sales have dropped about 90 percent, said director of FS Fruity Theresa Fong. Miss Fong estimated that she was selling about 60 cartons per week before news about the recall came out. She barely sells 2 now. She said that while there are rockmelons available in Indonesia and Japan, the ones from Australia, a major exporter of the fruit, are preferred by Singaporeans due to their taste.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Monday said two patients in Singapore had been infected with a listeria strain similar to the outbreak in Australia tied to rockmelons. One of them recovered, while the other died due to unrelated reasons, the Ministry said. According to channelnewsasia.com, the Ministry also said there is "no further public health risk from the Australia outbreak as the risks have been mitigated through the recall of the implicated consignments".
