Officials representing Burch Farms also confirmed that the company has traceability programs in place for some foods, but none for its melons. While the cantaloupes can be identified by red stickers that read "Burch Farms" and "PLU #4319," the honeydews exhibit no identifying characteristics and were simply shipped to wholesalers in cartons labeled "Fresh Melons."
Burch's recalled cantaloupes and honeydews shipped between June 23 and July 27 to stores in FL, GA, IL, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SC, VA, VT and WV. The melons then may have shipped to other states by wholesalers, Burch said.
Neither Burch nor FDA could provide more complete details of where the melons were shipped, though grocery retailer Food Lion reported the melons were sent to 463 of its stores across GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, VA and WV.
Jimmy Burch Sr., owner of Burch Farms, told The Grower that the farm had not had any food safety problems in the past.
On August 3, the company corrected the variety of cantaloupe under recall in a press release. They had originally stated that the recalled variety was 'Athena' when it was in fact 'Caribbean Gold.' Read Food Safety News' report to see the identifying characteristics of the two different varieties.
