Why Foaming Watermelons in Pa. Have Officials Worried

If you're planning on enjoying a summer treat of watermelon in Pennsylvania this month, you may want to double-check that watermelon for safety.

Legit these watermelons could make you (or your family) really sick.

In fact, health officials are warning that some rather dangerous watermelons could be on store shelves in Pennsylvania right now.

People across the country have reported that they've found white foam coming out of a watermelon. this summer.

This is apparently the start of the fermentation process, published reports say. So typically this happens when a watermelon is old and about to rot. But that isn't the case this year.

The majority of the watermelons grown in the United States come from Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, and Texas. All of those states have seen higher-than-average temperatures this summer.

So those warmer temperatures mean the melons are now fermenting while they're still on the vine.

Now they're on store shelves in Pennsylvania (and nationwide).

"Watermelon that has started foaming or leaking liquid should never be consumed," Kathy Savoie, told WGME-TV this summer. Savoie is a professor and food safety expert at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension so she knows what she's talking about.

The sticky sugary liquid isn't pleasant to encounter as it can make a mess. But the danger doesn't end there.

Reports say it can become the "perfect breeding grounds for bacteria." Those bacteria and viruses can include botulism, E.coli, and even salmonella.

So, yeah, they're REALLY dangerous to eat.

By the way, don't even bring these watermelons into your home cause they're quite literally at risk of exploding. Savoie says the fermentation process produces gas, and that internal pressure could cause the watermelon to explode.

Here's a video of that process happening several years ago: