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Consumers have been warned that an outbreak of listeriosis could recur, as pregnant women and the elderly are also advised to avoid any watermelon consistency in their summer fruit salads.
A major listeriosis outbreak between January and April of this year resulted in seven deaths and one miscarriage.
The Food Authority's investigation into the outbreak, announced Friday, revealed that heavy December rains, followed by dust storms, "dramatically increased" the amount of listeria on fruits.
The report indicates that the farm linked to the outbreak of Listeria, Rombola Family Farms, has now made "significant changes to the equipment and the packaging line itself, as well as procedures cleaning and documentation ".
But he noted that his hygiene practices were "equal to or better" than most other Australian farms.
This has led some to question whether Australia is likely to see an outbreak of listeriosis in the future.
Australia could again face an outbreak of listeria
Professor Martyn Kirk, a specialist in the spread of diseases through contaminated food, said the report did not specify how listeria got there.
"It could happen again," he said.
"But I hope that will not be the case, the industry takes very seriously the food hygiene after this year's outbreak."
Listeria is a type of bacteria found in soil, animal manure and water.
Rockmelon is not the only food likely to contain listeria, although the rough nature of its skin makes it easier to retain dirt even after cleaning processes.
Other foods that are more likely to be contaminated with listeria include processed meats, smoked salmon, chilled seafood, soft cheeses, sashimi and soft ice cream, according to Food Standards. Australia.
Professor Kirk said that there were about 150 outbreaks of foodborne illness each year (such as salmonella), of which one to five were due to listeria.
Every year, 70 to 80 people become infected with listeria, including blood poisoning or meningitis.
"The proportion of people who die from Listeria infections is about 20%.
"The main reason that there is a high proportion of people who die, is that they are often older and are usually afflicted with other diseases, such as cancer."
Dr. Vincent Ho, a gastroenterologist, agreed that although changes have been introduced to reduce the risk of an epidemic, they can not "completely eliminate the risk."
According to Dr. Katherine Todd, expert in public health, it is impossible to identify listeria by looking at or smelling the food.
"Consumers should scrub the rock skin carefully to remove residual dirt," she said.
"It is also important to clean the knife you use to cut the melon, before cutting other fruits for a fruit salad, otherwise you can transfer listeria to other foods.
"The elderly, pregnant women and anyone with a suppressed immune system such as a person with a chronic illness should not eat green melon."
The Rockmelon industry responds to the survey
Dianne Fullelove, of the Australian Melon Association, said it was important for consumers to keep in mind the risk of contamination of any food by foodborne illness.
"For most people, watermelon is perfectly safe, as is camembert," she said.
"The melon industry has been working hard over the past eight months to make sure nothing resembles this incident to happen again.
"The industry has put in place a new producer-funded project that provides individual food safety advice to rock melon producers.
"We have sent microbiologists to every packing shed and they are doing swab testing as an extra safety measure."
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