Colorado health authorities on Sept. 9 warned people at-risk of listeriosis to avoid eating cantaloupe as preliminary test results link cantaloupe as the likely cause of a Listeria outbreak.

Federal and state health officials are investigating a Listeria outbreak that involves nine confirmed cases in Colorado -- one of which that has proved fatal -- and two yet-to-be-confirmed cases in Texas and Nebraska, said the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

It was a very difficult time for the produce industry when the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, caused a disruption in the marketplace.

Cold weather has continued to delay the Peruvian asparagus crop, but volume “will start to increase dramatically over the next 10 days,” according to Fabian Sojos, imports manager for Boca Raton, FL-based Rosemont Farms, a C.H. Robinson company.

Recently released estimates indicate that the 2011 cranberry harvest will slightly exceed the 2010 volume, placing it among the largest cranberry crop years.

“The estimated U.S. cranberry crop production for 2011 is 7,363,000 barrels,” Tobias Stapleton, marketing director for the Cranberry Marketing Committee in Wareham, MA, told The Produce News. “The estimate was issued by the CMC at the end of August.”