Table 3.

List of selected studies reporting the prevalence of microbiological hazards in rockmelons.

Foodborne Pathogen	Year	Country	Prevalence	Sample Type	Location	References
E. coli	2000	USA	950 (37, 3.9%)	Surface samples collected at the farm	Field	[39]
	2000	Mexico	300 (77, 25.7%)	Surface samples collected at the farm	Field	[39]
	2012–2016	Canada	ND	Fresh-cut rockmelon	Retail	[40]
	2020–2021	Portugal	ND *	Fresh-cut rockmelon	Retail	[41]
	2023	Portugal	------	Cut surface of rockmelon and rockmelon peel	Retail	[42]
L. monocytogenes	2012–2016	Canada	699 (5, 0.72%)	Fresh-cut rockmelon	Retail	[40]
	2009–2013	Canada	140 (2, 1.4%)	Fresh-cut rockmelon	Retail	[43]
	2012–2014	Germany	ND	The rind of reticulated rockmelons	Unreported	[10]
	2015	USA	16 (1, 6.3%)	Rinse samples from whole rockmelons.	Farmer’s Markets	[44]
Salmonella	2014–2015	Germany	147 (3, 2.1%)	Rind and pulp samples from peeled rockmelon	Unreported	[10]
	2009–2013	Canada	2400 (2, 0.08%)	Outside of whole rockmelons	Retail	[43]
	2000	USA	250 (2, 0.8%)	Surface swabs of whole rockmelon	Farms	[39]
	2000	Mexico	ND	Surface swabs of packed whole rockmelons	Farms	[39]
	2009–2014	USA	1075 (2, 0.19%)	Peel samples from the whole rockmelon	Retail	[40,45]
	2015	USA	16 (9, 56.3%)	Rinse samples from whole rockmelons	Farmer’s Markets	[44]

* ND means not detected.