Brothers Arrested Over 2011 Listeria-infected Cantaloupe Outbreak

The brothers who owned and operated the farms blamed for a deadly 2011 listeria outbreak pleaded not guilty Thursday to six misdemeanor counts related to the event that left 33 people dead.

Eric and Ryan Jensen, ages 37 and 33, were both arrested and charged with introducing "adulterated food into interstate commerce," according to a press release issued by John Walsh, US Attorney of the District of Colorado.

If convicted, each faces one year in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 per charge.

According to Walsh, court documents state that the brothers allegedly changed their system of cleaning the cantaloupes grown on their farm in 2011, but knowingly did not implement the method fully.

As a result, at least six shipments of cantaloupe contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes were allegedly shipped to 28 different states.

Besides being tied to 33 deaths, one miscarriage and nearly 150 hospitalizations, outbreak-related cantaloupe resulted in 10 additional deaths not attributed to Listeriosis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

The case, Walsh said, represents a grim reminder of the important role food growers and distributors play in public health.

"As this case so tragically reminds us, food processors play a critical role in ensuring that our food is safe," Walsh said. "They bear a special responsibility to ensure that the food they produce and sell is not dangerous to the public. Where they fail to live up to that responsibility, and as these charges demonstrate, this office and the Food and Drug Administration have a responsibility to act forcefully to enforce the law."

According to Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Holland of the FDA-Office of Criminal Investigations, Kansas City Field Office, the US public has every right to demand safe food products.

"The filing of criminal charges in this deadly outbreak sends the message that absolute care must be taken to ensure that deadly pathogens do not enter our food supply chain," he said.