Eighty cases of salmonella poisoning have been reported across Australia, linked with the eating of rockmelons.

Australia and New Zealand's food safety authority has warned vulnerable groups of people to avoid eating rockmelon as it investigates the spike in salmonella cases associated with the fruit.

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) said all consumers, but especially the elderly, children and pregnant women, should avoid eating rockmelon while it investigated the matter.

SA Health chief medical officer Paddy Phillips said 80 cases across Australia had been reported, with 20 of those cases in South Australia.

South Australia usually only sees two outbreaks of salmonella hvittingfoss, the specific strain causing this outbreak, each year.

"SA Health recommends anyone with rockmelon in the house to discard it, as washing the rockmelon will not remove the salmonella, and to not consume any other rockmelon until further notice," Professor Phillips said.



The contaminated melons were grown from a Northern Territory farm, Red Dirt, which agreed to remove its fruit from the supply chain.

Testing has revealed salmonella-contaminated rockmelons were shipped from Northern Territory farm Red Dirt. ( ABC Rural: Daniel Fitzgerald )

It is another blow for Red Dirt, which was forced to relocate its operation to Western Australia in order to halt the spread of Cucumber Mosaic Virus last year.

FSANZ said in a statement that cases of salmonella poisoning associated with rockmelons were increasing in a number of states and territories.

Rockmelons are grown in all states and territories except Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.

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Rockmelons have been the subject of salmonella outbreaks in the past, with health authorities investigating contaminated fruit in 2006.

The salmonella bacteria causes fever, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, stomach cramps, and nausea and vomiting.