Brothers Eric and Ryan Jensen, owners of Jensen Farms, pleaded guilty to introducing adulterated cantaloupe into interstate commerce and were each sentenced to 5 years of probation, 6 months of home detention, $150,000 in restitution, and 100 hours of community service, following the deadliest foodborne illness outbreak in the U.S. since at least the 1970s — 33 deaths across 28 states.

Jensen Farms — Listeria Cantaloupe Outbreak / 33 Deaths (2011–2014)

Outcome: Brothers Eric and Ryan Jensen, owners of Jensen Farms of Holly, Colorado, pleaded guilty to introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce and were sentenced to five years of probation, six months of home detention, $150,000 each in restitution, and 100 hours of community service, following the deadliest foodborne illness outbreak in the U.S. since the CDC began tracking outbreaks in the 1970s: 33 deaths and 147 illnesses across 28 states.

Jensen Farms operated a cantaloupe farm and packing operation in Holly, Colorado. In May 2011, the Jensen brothers changed their cantaloupe cleaning system to one built primarily to clean potatoes. The new equipment included a design for a chlorine spray that would sanitize the fruit, but the brothers never connected or used the chlorine spray component. The new system created pooling water and wet surfaces — ideal conditions for Listeria monocytogenes growth and cross-contamination — and the equipment was not designed or validated for food-contact sanitation of cantaloupes.

Cantaloupes processed on the new system were contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The CDC began detecting a cluster of listeriosis cases in September 2011 and traced the outbreak to Jensen Farms cantaloupes through epidemiological investigation. By the time the outbreak was fully characterized, 33 people had died and 147 were confirmed ill across 28 states — making it the deadliest foodborne illness outbreak in the U.S. since the CDC began tracking outbreaks. Jensen Farms initiated a voluntary recall, but significant volumes of contaminated product had already been distributed nationally.

Federal prosecutors charged Eric Jensen and Ryan Jensen with six counts each of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce, in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Both brothers pleaded guilty. On January 28, 2014, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Michael Hegarty sentenced each brother to five years of probation, six months of home detention, 100 hours of community service, and $150,000 in restitution. The relatively light criminal sentences were widely criticized by food safety advocates; the case highlighted the gap between the magnitude of harm and the limited criminal penalties available under existing food safety statutes.

Primary Source: Eric and Ryan Jensen Charged With Introducing Tainted Cantaloupe Into Interstate Commerce