Stores Comply With Ban on Watermelons

Watermelons disappeared from supermarket bins around Orange County Friday as stores complied with an order by state health officials temporarily banning their sale.

Three tubs of watermelons--a total of about 3,000 pounds and 150 melons--were removed from the Vons on Harbor Boulevard in Fountain Valley. By noon Friday, customers had brought back to the store nine whole and 13 half-melons, store clerk Cat Silva said.

At the Vons on Magnolia Avenue in Fountain Valley, clerk Jacques Boulanger said the store had withdrawn only one tub of about 40 watermelons, having sold most of its melons before the recall notice. The store had received “no complaints yet; no one got sick or anything,” Boulanger said.

He added that he assumed that most customers were aware of the temporary ban. “No one’s asked for watermelons, so I guess they know,” he said.

Vons Began Withdrawal

The withdrawal of the watermelons began early Thursday, when Vons Grocery Co. moved to pull all watermelons from its 179 stores in Southern and Central California and Las Vegas, Nev., said Dan Granger, vice president for marketing.

The action came shortly after six Vons employees suddenly became ill after eating a melon at the company’s El Monte distribution center. The state notice came that afternoon.

Supermarket officials said the removal from sale of the melons was largely precautionary, as most melons in their stores were from areas other than those suspected by the Department of Food and Agriculture of supplying the contaminated batches.

“We’ve pulled everything off sale in our stores,” said Carl Pennington, a vice president for Albertson’s Food Centers Inc. “We’re just waiting for direction” from state authorities, he said.

Albertson’s removed its melons Friday morning, said a clerk at the Corona del Mar store. “The sad thing is . . . we removed them for no reason,” simply because of the scare, she said.

Joe Vitanza, produce specialist for Lucky Stores Inc., said no Lucky markets carried any of the contaminated fruit but the stores had pulled their watermelons from sale Friday morning before opening. He added that Lucky was being flooded with callers describing symptoms of pesticide poisoning, but that he didn’t think the symptoms were caused by melons.

“We’re getting deluged with those (calls), and that’s normal,” he said. “I can understand their concern.”