Honduras: US Should Compensate Producers

[AlphaCentauri]

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The Honduran melon company whose imports were blocked from entering the U.S. following a salmonella outbreak estimated on Tuesday its losses at $8 million.

"This is a terrible decision for us," Edilberto Rodriguez, operations manager for Agropecuaria Montelibano, said of the ban. "Because of this, we have decided to develop new markets in Britain and Holland."

Rodriguez said about 320,000 crates of melons had piled up at U.S. ports.

Honduran Trade Minister Fredys Cerrato on Monday demanded that the U.S. compensate the company because he said it had not proved scientifically that the fruit was first infected in Honduras.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Saturday asked grocers to remove from their shelves melons shipped by Agropecuaria Montelibano and suggested shoppers check with stores to see where recently purchased melons came from. It also is seeking to halt the company's future cantaloupe shipments to the U.S.

The FDA said it was continuing to investigate the outbreak that sickened 50 people in the U.S. and nine people in Canada. No deaths have been reported, but 14 people have been hospitalized, the agency said.

Symptoms of food-borne salmonella include nausea, vomiting, fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5648101.html