Canadian man sues melon sellers
The man had contracted salmonellosis.
A man from Montreal has filed a class action lawsuit against two companies that produce and distribute fruit. The plaintiff alleges that he was previously hospitalized with salmonella poisoning after eating melons purchased from this vendor.
The man describes eating two melons during the week of November 6 and began experiencing "severe" symptoms: sharp abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting and fever. On November 12, he was admitted to the emergency room of the Verdun hospital and remained there for another six days while he was treated for salmonellosis in the infectious disease unit.
Defendants in his lawsuit are Agropecuaria Malichita, a company based in northwestern Mexico, and Sofia Produce LLC, an exporter of produce from the U.S. city of Nogales, Arizona, which does business under the TruFresh brand. The lawsuit must be authorized by a judge before it can be heard.
Other victims
Since the lawsuit is a class action, one can guess that the plaintiff was joined by other victims. In October and November, there was indeed an outbreak of salmonellosis in Canada and the United States due to the distribution of contaminated melons. The Public Health Agency of Canada identified Rudy and Malichita melons as the likely source of the outbreak.
As of Dec. 22, 164 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection have been identified across Canada, with nearly 70 percent of them in Quebec. At least 61 hospitalizations are known.
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