DENVER, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Two Colorado brothers have reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors over a deadly Listeria outbreak spread by tainted cantaloupe.
Eric and Ryan Jensen, 37 and 33, operated Jensen Farms, the source of cantaloupe tainted with the food-borne pathogen that killed 33 people and hospitalized 147 -- the nation's deadliest food-borne epidemic in 25 years, The Denver Post said Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors had charged the brothers with six misdemeanor counts of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. The Jensens pleaded not guilty on Oct. 22 but will now enter a guilty plea, court documents state. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The brothers each face a maximum 6-year prison sentence and fine of $1.5 million.
Investigators with the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said old, difficult-to-clean equipment at a packaging facility at Jensen Farms along with standing water in the building were to blame for the listeria outbreak, which affected people in 28 states.
