There is trouble in the vineyard of the Lord in this Sunday’s readings. The gospel’s vineyard owner faces a workers’ revolt, while the reading from the Book of Isaiah asks why a carefully cultivated vineyard brings forth only wild grapes. A deadly outbreak of listeriosis linked to a cantaloupe farm has health officials asking what went wrong in the harvesting process on a Colorado farm. So far at least 13 people have died and 72 people have been infected in 18 states.

"This is the deadliest outbreak of a food-borne disease that we've indentified in more than a decade," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The outbreak has been tentatively traced to Jensen Farm in Holly, Colorado. The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said consumers who have cantaloupes produced there should throw them out. If they are not sure where the fruit is from, they shouldn’t eat it.

Government investigators are continuing to search for the root cause of the outbreak, examining the possibility of animal or water contamination as well as the Jensen farm's harvesting practices. In the meantime the number of people sickened is expected to rise because it can take up to two months for those infected with the bacteria to develop listeriosis. "We do anticipate there will be a rising number of cases in the days and weeks to come," Frieden said.

Listeria generally only sickens the elderly, pregnant women, and others with compromised immune systems. The CDC said the median age of those made ill is 78 and that 1 in 5 who contract the disease can die from it. Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms.

There are four different listeria strains associated with the cantaloupe outbreak, something the FDA considers unusual. "The reasons for that are under investigation," said FDA senior advisor Dr. Sherri McGarry.

The FDA said the latest outbreak is yet another reason to fully implement the Food Safety Modernization Act. The act was signed into law on January 4, but when the FDA’s budget was slashed by the U.S. House of Representatives, it became unclear how the agency would pay for a new, modernized food safety inspection process.

Sources: Articles by Christina Caron for ABC News and the Associated Press