Cantaloupe melons have been identified as a common cause of food poisoning.
US and Canadian records show that cantaloupes have caused almost one large outbreak a year over a 30-year period.
This has left 1,615 people ill, 57 in hospital and two dead.
But researchers from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, writing in the Epidemiology and Infection journal this month, believe the real numbers could be far higher.
The food poisoning is thought to occur when the melon’s rough skin, which can be hard to clean, contaminates the flesh when it is cut open.
