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Wedges of cantaloupe

Cantaloupe, raw

Checked by us One serving: 150 g · 51 kcal

Lots of vitamin A.

Worth knowing: Salmonella. Nothing else to watch for most people so far.

Worth knowing for some people: Listeria.

Good for

How we counted this

What one serving (150 g) gives you.

Your body needs enough of each of these. Past enough, more doesn’t help. Amounts are what the food databases list, not what your body absorbs, unless a row says it was measured.

The words: “A lot” means one serving gives 20% or more of Health Canada’s daily amount, “Some” 10% to 19%, “A little” 2% to 9%, “Almost none” under 2%. Strongest word first; within a word, protein and fibre lead, then the biggest share.

A milligram (mg) is a thousandth of a gram, and a microgram (µg) a thousandth of a milligram: 1,000 µg make 1 mg.

  • Vitamin A

    Your eyes need it to see in dim light.

    A lot
    Learn more

    Getting enough matters; more than enough doesn’t sharpen your sight.

    348 µg in one serving: 39% of the 900 µg a day men need, 50% of the 700 µg women need. The word follows the smaller share, which is the share of the higher amount.

    Source: How much of it gets in hasn’t been measured for this food yet. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, vitamin A fact sheet for health professionals

21 more nutrients below “a lot”

How to handle it

  • Flagged for handling, and for people at higher risk such as young children and older adults: Salmonella prevalence on whole cantaloupe is low (1 of 499 positive, 0.2%, CFIA survey 2010/11), but the outbreak record is the signal. A 2023 PHAC outbreak linked to Malichita and Rudy cantaloupes caused 190 laboratory-confirmed cases (Quebec 131), 68 hospitalised and 9 deaths; children 5 or under were 33% of cases and adults 65 or over 45%, and the outbreak strains were found in recalled Malichita cantaloupe. Health Canada names the netted rind as the reason cantaloupe is at greater risk and gives scrub-and-refrigerate steps.

Watch out

How we counted this
Checked for nickel, cadmium, aluminum and lead: fine at normal amounts.
  • Nickel

    Nothing to watch

    You’d need about 49 servings in a day of this food alone to use up what the highest average adult intake we found leaves under the limit.

    Learn more

    One serving carries 13.9 µg

    How we got this

    The highest average adult intake we found already takes up about 26% of the limit. One serving a day fits in the room left.

    Counted from zero, with no allowance for what adults already take in from other food, 9,800 g a day would reach the limit.

    Why this rating: Eating it daily comes to 150 g a day, which stays within the 7,300 g of room left before the limit.

    The dataset’s rating: Nothing to watch: under the limit

    No cap: EFSA's 2020 tolerable daily intake for nickel is 13 µg/kg body weight/day, 910 µg a day for 70 kg. Eaten alone, about 9,841 g a day would reach it, on a lower-bound Health Canada mean of 0.09247 µg/g (cantaloupe and watermelon composites). One 150 g serving holds 13.9 µg, about 1.5% of the day's limit.

    Health Canada, Canadian Total Diet Study – Trace Elements (2005–2018 composites) · grade B

    Every food with nickel

  • Cadmium

    Nothing to watch

    You’d need about 7.1 servings a day, every day, of this food alone to use up what an average adult’s intake leaves under the limit.

    Learn more

    One serving carries 1.02 µg

    How we got this

    A serving a day adds 5.8% to what an average adult already takes in: a share of that intake, not of the limit. With that serving every day, an average adult would be at about 75% of the limit.

    An average adult already takes in about 71% of the limit. One serving a day fits in the room left.

    Counted from zero, with no allowance for what adults already take in from other food, 26,000 g a week would reach the limit.

    Why this rating: Eating it daily comes to 1,050 g a week, which stays within the 7,500 g of room left before the limit.

    The dataset’s rating: Nothing to watch: under the limit

    A daily serving adds 5.8% to an average adult's cadmium intake (EFSA 2012 adult median, 1.77 µg/kg body weight/week; Canadian adults in 2007: 1.2-1.75), far from doubling it, so no cap.

    Health Canada, Canadian Total Diet Study – Trace Elements (2005–2018 composites) · grade B

    Every food with cadmium

  • Aluminum

    Nothing to watch

    You’d need more than 100 servings a day, every day, of this food alone to reach the limit.

    Learn more

    One serving carries 18.9 µg

    How we got this

    550,000 g a week reaches the limit

    The dataset’s rating: Nothing to watch: under the limit

    No cap: EFSA's 2008 tolerable weekly intake for aluminium is 1 mg/kg body weight/week, 70,000 µg a week for 70 kg. Eaten alone, about 554,319 g a week would reach it, on a lower-bound mean of 0.1263 µg/g (Health Canada, cantaloupe and watermelon composites).

    Health Canada, Canadian Total Diet Study – Trace Elements (2005–2018 composites) · grade B

    Every food with aluminum

  • Lead

    Nothing to watch

    You’d need more than 100 servings a day, every day, of this food alone to double the lead an average adult already gets. No dose is known to be safe, so doubling is where we flag.

    Learn more

    A serving a day adds 0.6% to what an average adult already takes in. There is no limit to take a share of.

    One serving carries 0.2 µg

    How we got this

    The dataset’s rating: Nothing to watch: doesn’t double average intake

    No cap: no safe level of lead is set; EFSA's 2010 reference point is a benchmark dose lower limit (BMDL01) of 0.50 µg/kg body weight/day. Judged by what a serving adds to the average adult's intake of 35 µg/day (EFSA 2012): 0.203 µg a serving, 0.58%. The Health Canada mean is 1.352 ng/g across 17 melon composites (cantaloupe and watermelon).

    Health Canada, Canadian Total Diet Study – Trace Elements (2005–2018 composites) · grade B

    Every food with lead

For some people

  • Flagged for older adults, pregnancy and weakened immunity, and for handling: this is a single event record, not an occurrence rate. The 2011 outbreak linked to whole Rocky Ford cantaloupes from Jensen Farms, Colorado (CDC final update 2012-08-27) infected 147 persons in 28 states, with 33 outbreak-associated deaths and one miscarriage; 143 of 145 with data were hospitalised (99%). Listeria grows on cantaloupe at refrigerator temperature, so refrigeration alone cannot keep cut melon safe beyond Health Canada's four days.

Worth knowing

No limit applies, so none is rated.

  • Sugar

    12 g of sugar in a 150 g serving, natural and added together.

    Learn more

    Shown, not rated. The food tables we read give total sugar, and few give added sugar, so the site can’t yet tell sugar added in making a food from the sugar in fruit or milk.

Also checked (nothing to act on) · 2

Noted for context, or not measured in this food yet.

  • Measured in this food, not rated yet. Context only: total arsenic has no reference value; inorganic arsenic is not reported for melon. Not scored.

  • Context only, never scored. Violations in the import data: thiabendazole 13 of 224 samples (29 positives, max 2.58 ppm), ethylene diamine 5 of 133, clothianidin 2 of 220. No acceptable daily intake (ADI) arithmetic was done.

Better options

How we counted this

“Better” here always means better at something the row names: more of one nutrient, more nutrients per serving, or the goal you pick. It never means better in every way.

Every amount below is for the same weight, 150 g, the size of one serving of this food, so a swap compares like with like. A serving of another food can be bigger or smaller.

Compared with the other fruits we’ve checked.

A food is listed only if it gives clearly more: at least a fifth more than this food, and at least 10% of the daily amount more.

More of what it’s good for

For vitamin A: no other fruits we’ve checked give clearly more, in the same 150 g.

More nutrients per serving, counted together

The other fruits we’ve checked with more nutrients per serving than this one, counting at most 100 kcal. One score ranks them all, so the same few often lead.

  • Kiwi, raw
    • More vitamin C (112 mg vs 16.4 mg)
    • More vitamin K1 (60.5 µg vs 4.05 µg)
    • More vitamin E (1.95 mg vs 0.08 mg)
    • Less vitamin A (6 µg vs 348 µg)
  • Mango, raw
    • More vitamin C (54.6 mg vs 16.4 mg)
    • More folate (64.5 µg vs 21 µg)
    • Less vitamin A (81 µg vs 348 µg)
  • Pineapple, raw
    • More vitamin C (87.9 mg vs 16.4 mg)
    • Less vitamin A (4.5 µg vs 348 µg)

Where the calcium card measured that less calcium gets in than from milk, calcium counts for less; everything else is as listed.

Your goal

Your goal changes only this list, not what the food gives you or what to watch.

Losing weight: fewer calories, and more nutrients, protein and fibre for each calorie.

  • Raspberries, raw
    • More fibre (9.75 g vs 1.2 g)
    • More vitamin C (34.6 mg vs 16.4 mg)
    • Less vitamin A (3 µg vs 348 µg)
  • Raspberries, frozen
    • More fibre (6.45 g vs 1.2 g)
    • More vitamin C (26.4 mg vs 16.4 mg)
    • Less vitamin A (6 µg vs 348 µg)
  • Strawberries, raw
    • More vitamin C (89.4 mg vs 16.4 mg)
    • Less vitamin A (1.5 µg vs 348 µg)

Bring a tracker export or describe your usual week. The same rules check all of it.

The numbers

Open every value

Name in the database: Cantaloupe, raw

How the serving was set: 150 g (Health Canada TRA J.3, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew and other melons; cut-up: cups, whole: fraction of the fruit)

Listed nutrients, per 100 g

For each nutrient, the value this page uses is marked “used”. A row marked “second database” is another database’s figure for a matching food, kept so you can see how far databases disagree (they can differ in the samples analysed, lab methods and rounding). Its own cells are worked out from it, but none of the page’s words or scores are.

NutrientPer servingPer 100 caloriesHowSourceGrade
Omega-3: ALA0.046 g0.07 g0.14 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Calcium9 mg13.5 mg26.47 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
9 mg13.5 mg26.47 mgcopy of USDA · not usedCanadian Nutrient File 2026 #1721C
Carbohydrate8.16 g12.24 g24 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Choline7.6 mg11.4 mg22.35 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Energy34 kcal51 kcal–FDC Energy (kcal) usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods)–
Omega-3: EPA + DHA0 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Fat0.18 g0.27 g0.53 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Cholesterol0 mg0 mg0 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Fatty acids, total saturated0.051 g0.08 g0.15 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Fibre0.8 g1.2 g2.35 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Folate14 µg21 µg41.18 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Iron0.38 mg0.57 mg1.12 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Magnesium13 mg19.5 mg38.24 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Niacin (B3, niacin equivalents)0.767 mg1.15 mg2.26 mglisted usedCanadian Nutrient File 2026 #1721C
Phosphorus17 mg25.5 mg50 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Potassium157 mg235.5 mg461.76 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Protein0.82 g1.23 g2.41 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Riboflavin (B2)0.027 mg0.04 mg0.08 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Selenium1.7 µg2.55 µg5 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Sodium30 mg45 mg88.24 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Sugars7.86 g11.79 g23.12 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Thiamin (B1)0.049 mg0.07 mg0.14 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Vitamin A232 µg348 µg682.35 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Vitamin B120 µg0 µg0 µgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Vitamin B60.04 mg0.06 mg0.12 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Vitamin C10.9 mg16.35 mg32.06 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Vitamin D0 µg0 µg0 µgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Vitamin E0.05 mg0.08 mg0.15 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Vitamin K12.7 µg4.05 µg7.94 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Water90.2 g135.3 g265.29 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Zinc0.44 mg0.66 mg1.29 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
NutrientPer 100 gPer servingPer 100 caloriesHowSourceGrade
Beta-carotene2,780 µg4,170 µg8,176.47 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Copper0.085 mg0.13 mg0.25 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Energy (Atwater general)38 kcal57 kcal111.76 kcallisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Energy (Atwater specific)34 kcal51 kcal100 kcallisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Nitrogen0.13 g0.2 g0.38 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Ash0.63 g0.95 g1.85 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Starch0.02 g0.03 g0.06 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Sucrose3.32 g4.98 g9.76 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Glucose2.08 g3.12 g6.12 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Fructose2.4 g3.6 g7.06 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Maltose0.02 g0.03 g0.06 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Alcohol, ethyl0 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Carbohydrate, by summation8.69 g13.04 g25.56 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Caffeine0 mg0 mg0 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Theobromine0 mg0 mg0 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Energy141 kj211.5 kj414.71 kjlisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Sugars, Total7.88 g11.82 g23.18 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Galactose0.06 g0.09 g0.18 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Fiber, soluble0.3 g0.45 g0.88 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Fiber, insoluble0.5 g0.75 g1.47 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Fluoride, F1 µg1.5 µg2.94 µgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Vitamin A, IU3,382 iu5,073 iu9,947.06 iufrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Carotene, alpha0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Vitamin D (D2 + D3), International Units0 iu0 iu0 iufrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Cryptoxanthin, beta0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Lycopene0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Tocopherol, beta0 mg0 mg0 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Tocopherol, gamma0.11 mg0.17 mg0.32 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Tocopherol, delta0 mg0 mg0 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Tocotrienol, alpha0 mg0 mg0 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Tocotrienol, beta0 mg0 mg0 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Tocotrienol, gamma0 mg0 mg0 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Tocotrienol, delta0 mg0 mg0 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Vitamin K (Dihydrophylloquinone)0 µg0 µg0 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Folic acid0 µg0 µg0 µgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Folate, food21 µg31.5 µg61.76 µgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Folate, DFE21 µg31.5 µg61.76 µgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Betaine0.1 mg0.15 mg0.29 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Tryptophan0.002 g0 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Threonine0.014 g0.02 g0.04 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Isoleucine0.017 g0.03 g0.05 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Leucine0.024 g0.04 g0.07 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Lysine0.024 g0.04 g0.07 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Methionine0.01 g0.02 g0.03 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Cystine0.002 g0 g0.01 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Phenylalanine0.019 g0.03 g0.06 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Tyrosine0.012 g0.02 g0.04 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Valine0.027 g0.04 g0.08 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Arginine0.024 g0.04 g0.07 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Histidine0.012 g0.02 g0.04 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Alanine0.077 g0.12 g0.23 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Aspartic acid0.113 g0.17 g0.33 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Glutamic acid0.174 g0.26 g0.51 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Glycine0.021 g0.03 g0.06 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Proline0.016 g0.02 g0.05 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Serine0.034 g0.05 g0.1 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Vitamin E, added0 mg0 mg0 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Vitamin B-12, added0 µg0 µg0 µgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Fatty acids, total trans0 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
SFA 4:00 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
SFA 6:00 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
SFA 8:00 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
SFA 10:00 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
SFA 12:00.001 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
SFA 14:00.001 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
SFA 16:00.043 g0.06 g0.13 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
SFA 18:00.005 g0.01 g0.01 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
MUFA 18:10.003 g0 g0.01 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
PUFA 18:20.035 g0.05 g0.1 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
PUFA 18:30.046 g0.07 g0.14 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
PUFA 20:40 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
PUFA 22:6 n-3 (DHA)0 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
MUFA 16:10 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
PUFA 18:40 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
MUFA 20:10 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
PUFA 20:5 n-3 (EPA)0 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
MUFA 22:10 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
PUFA 22:5 n-3 (DPA)0 g0 g0 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Phytosterols10 mg15 mg29.41 mgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated0.003 g0 g0.01 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated0.081 g0.12 g0.24 gfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C
Lactose0 g0 g0 glisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Lutein + zeaxanthin32 µg48 µg94.12 µglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Manganese0.046 mg0.07 mg0.14 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Niacin (B3, preformed)0.694 mg1.04 mg2.04 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Pantothenic acid (B5)0.085 mg0.13 mg0.25 mglisted usedUS food database (USDA Foundation Foods) #746770C
Retinol0 µg0 µg0 µgfrom SR Legacy usedUS food database (USDA SR Legacy) #169092C

Change the amount to rescale the first column. Nutrients a database doesn't list are missing, not zero.

Hazard rows as the dataset rates them

  • Aluminum · Nothing to watch: under the limit · No cap: EFSA's 2008 tolerable weekly intake for aluminium is 1 mg/kg body weight/week, 70,000 µg a week for 70 kg. Eaten alone, about 554,319 g a week would reach it, on a lower-bound mean of 0.1263 µg/g (Health Canada, cantaloupe and watermelon composites). · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · B
  • Arsenic, all forms · Not rated yet · Context only: total arsenic has no reference value; inorganic arsenic is not reported for melon. Not scored. · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · B
  • Cadmium · Nothing to watch: under the limit · A daily serving adds 5.8% to an average adult's cadmium intake (EFSA 2012 adult median, 1.77 µg/kg body weight/week; Canadian adults in 2007: 1.2-1.75), far from doubling it, so no cap. · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · B
  • Lead · Nothing to watch: doesn’t double average intake · No cap: no safe level of lead is set; EFSA's 2010 reference point is a benchmark dose lower limit (BMDL01) of 0.50 µg/kg body weight/day. Judged by what a serving adds to the average adult's intake of 35 µg/day (EFSA 2012): 0.203 µg a serving, 0.58%. The Health Canada mean is 1.352 ng/g across 17 melon composites (cantaloupe and watermelon). · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · B
  • Listeria · Worth knowing · Flagged for older adults, pregnancy and weakened immunity, and for handling: this is a single event record, not an occurrence rate. The 2011 outbreak linked to whole Rocky Ford cantaloupes from Jensen Farms, Colorado (CDC final update 2012-08-27) infected 147 persons in 28 states, with 33 outbreak-associated deaths and one miscarriage; 143 of 145 with data were hospitalised (99%). Listeria grows on cantaloupe at refrigerator temperature, so refrigeration alone cannot keep cut melon safe beyond Health Canada's four days. · CDC 2012 · A
  • Nickel · Nothing to watch: under the limit · No cap: EFSA's 2020 tolerable daily intake for nickel is 13 µg/kg body weight/day, 910 µg a day for 70 kg. Eaten alone, about 9,841 g a day would reach it, on a lower-bound Health Canada mean of 0.09247 µg/g (cantaloupe and watermelon composites). One 150 g serving holds 13.9 µg, about 1.5% of the day's limit. · Health Canada Total Diet Study, trace elements · B
  • Pesticide residues · Context · Context only, never scored. Violations in the import data: thiabendazole 13 of 224 samples (29 positives, max 2.58 ppm), ethylene diamine 5 of 133, clothianidin 2 of 220. No acceptable daily intake (ADI) arithmetic was done. · CFIA chemical residue monitoring (2016–2023) · A
  • Salmonella · Worth knowing · Flagged for handling, and for people at higher risk such as young children and older adults: Salmonella prevalence on whole cantaloupe is low (1 of 499 positive, 0.2%, CFIA survey 2010/11), but the outbreak record is the signal. A 2023 PHAC outbreak linked to Malichita and Rudy cantaloupes caused 190 laboratory-confirmed cases (Quebec 131), 68 hospitalised and 9 deaths; children 5 or under were 33% of cases and adults 65 or over 45%, and the outbreak strains were found in recalled Malichita cantaloupe. Health Canada names the netted rind as the reason cantaloupe is at greater risk and gives scrub-and-refrigerate steps. · CFIA 2010 · A

Oxalate, phytate and gut-tolerance measurements

  • fodmap excess fructose: derived: Foundation 746770 fructose 2.4 minus glucose 2.08 = 0.32 g/100 g; SR 169092 fructose 1.87 minus glucose 1.54 = 0.33 g/100 g. Per 150 g serving 0.48-0.49 g: just over Varney 2017's 0.40 g line (fresh fruit, excess fructose the only FODMAP) and about 3 times the 0.15 g general line if another FODMAP is present. Borderline. g/100 g · fresh weight · raw · grade B · US food database (USDA Foundation Foods)

Sources

Body map 2026-10-25.1: each nutrient’s job comes from an agency fact sheet, linked beside it under Good for.

The plain words: “a lot” means one serving (100 g when the food has no serving size) gives at least 20% of the daily amount (the reference intake), “some” at least 10%, “a little” at least 2% (the cut-offs are ours, one set for every page: 20% and 10% are borrowed from the US labelling terms “high” and “good source” and applied to Health Canada’s daily amount, whereas Health Canada’s own shopper rule says 15%; provisional: they may change in a later method version). The daily amount is Health Canada’s Dietary Reference Intake for adults 19–30; where men and women need different amounts we use the higher one (protein: 56 g for men, 46 g for women). The percentage printed under each nutrient is the printed amount as a share of that daily amount, rounded to the nearest whole number, and the word is read from that percentage, so the amount, the percentage and the word always agree. Calcium with a measured absorption is scaled by how well it gets in compared with milk.

The scale: “Nothing to watch” means a serving a day stays under the limit at ordinary amounts; “Go easy” means a serving a day can push past the limit for adults who already take in the most, or fewer than 2 servings reach it; “Limit it” means once a week or less. The dataset’s own rating is under “How we got this”. Provisional: the scale may change in a later method version.

Measured absorption under Good for: grade-A studies in adults that tested this preparation of this food, as a share of the listed amount (the share digested, for protein), quoted once each source has passed our evidence check; animal studies and other variants stay in the table above. Provisional: this screen may change in a later method version.