The Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it had found two samples of the cyclospora parasite during its investigation of Taylor Farms facilities in Mexico, strong new evidence that an outbreak that sickened thousands in the United States this summer came from lettuce produced by the company. The agency sent inspectors to the company’s processing plant and nearby farms in August, about a month after Taylor Farms recalled bags of lettuce sent to retailers and restaurants across the nation. Friday’s announcement disclosed the first results of that inquiry: Inspectors discovered cyclospora in water from a tank that held outgoing wastewater from the Taylor Farms de Mexico processing facility, which chopped fresh lettuce.
A second positive sample was found in sediment in a drainage ditch at an iceberg lettuce farm that operates as an independent grower for Taylor Farms. Over the course of the summer, the cyclospora outbreak linked to Taylor Farms caused nearly 13,000 illnesses, 570 hospitalizations and two deaths in 21 states. It was the nation’s largest outbreak of food-borne illness in decades.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the outbreak over in September. The F. D.
A. and the C. D. C. announced in July that the outbreak was most likely linked to the processing facility in Mexico after officials in Michigan interviewed hundreds of people who fell ill and examined supply chain records from Taco Bell.
Taylor Farms ultimately recalled 236,192 cases of lettuce sold to stores, restaurants and distributors including Walmart, Subway, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell and Sysco. The F. D.
A. said it is still working to determine if the genotype of the cyclospora samples found in Mexico matched samples collected from sick patients in the United States. Cases of cyclospora are challenging to link genetically because the parasite cannot be cultured in a laboratory the way that bacteria like salmonella or E. coli can. This means that investigators cannot easily identify whether different cases of cyclospora share a common strain.
While there is currently not enough evidence to conclusively determine how contamination occurred in this outbreak, the positive samples show that cyclospora was present in the environment where lettuce was grown and processed. Taylor Farms said in a statement on Friday that it has not reopened the processing facility since production was suspended in July as we work with our research team to implement enhanced safety protocols from the field to the facility. The company also said in a statement that the independent farm where one sample was discovered is no longer part of our supplier program.
The statement also emphasized the F. D. A.’s conclusion that there is not enough evidence to conclusively determine where the contamination occurred.
The company said it takes safety seriously: We know trust is earned by what we do, and we will continue to learn, improve and take action to keep our food fresh and safe. Previously, the company said it had invested more than $200 million per year in food safety protocols and hired experts to do a thorough review of its Mexico processing center. Cyclospora, which can cause severe diarrhea and cramping, is known to spread only through human feces.
So although the F. D. A. has not concluded how, exactly, the parasite ended up in the wastewater tank and drainage ditch, the water was most likely contaminated with traces of feces from people on or near the facilities who were infected with cyclospora themselves.
Also on Friday, the F. D. A. announced a series of actions intended to prevent future cyclospora outbreaks.
Those included greater surveillance of foods that have caused past outbreaks, which can include cilantro and raspberries, and outreach to...
Source: New York Times Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing