The FDA is blaming melons shipped from Honduras for a salmonella outbreak that’s affected at least 50 people in 16 states, including New York. No deaths have been reported yet, but 14 people have been hospitalized and the FDA is telling consumers to check with stores to see where recently purchased melons came from, specifically any from Honduran company Agropecuaria Montelibano.

But the President of Honduras fired back at the FDA yesterday, calling the warning "unjust, extreme and imprudent." He says there have been no salmonella problems in Honduras and criticized the FDA for not releasing data proving the melons are causing the outbreak. And since the melons were contaminated on their peel, not inside, the Honduran trade minister says they could have come in contact with salmonella bacteria after they were shipped.

Honduran agriculture experts are meeting with the FDA today; they say the U.S. will have to compensate Agropecuaria Montelibano if they’re proven wrong. The company ships 2.5 million boxes of cantaloupe to the U.S. every year.

Photo: Solecism.