Cyclospora found at Mexican farm linked to lettuce outbreak, FDA says
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that its inspectors detected cyclospora at the Mexican farm blamed for the largest foodborne illness outbreak of the parasite in U.S. history.
Despite the finding, the FDA said it’s unclear how the parasite got into lettuce at Taylor Farms’ facility. The agency has now closed its investigation into the outbreak, which led to nearly 13,000 cases of diarrhea and other illnesses across the U.S.
The announcement comes more than six weeks after the agency sent its investigators to the farm in Guanajuato, Mexico. The visit was the agency’s first time there in more than seven years following a steep drop in international food safety inspections after the COVID-19 pandemic.
FDA inspectors said Friday they found cyclospora in two places: a wastewater tank and a drainage ditch used for lettuce cultivation. While it’s unclear how the contamination took place, the FDA said the samples provide “strong epidemiological data” linking the outbreak to the Taylor Farms site.
In a separate statement, Taylor Farms attributed the contamination cited by FDA to an independent grower “who is no longer part of our supplier program.”
“Our facility remains closed in central Mexico as we work with our research team to implement enhanced safety protocols from the field to the facility,” the company said.
U.S. officials last month declared the outbreak had ended.
Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC. The illness, called cyclosporiasis, is less common than foodborne illnesses caused by other germs, including salmonella and E. coli.
The parasite is spread through human feces, and it still isn’t clear how sewage could have contaminated enough food to sicken so many people.
Regulators from Mexico’s food safety authority announced in August that their own investigation did not detect cyclospora in the lettuce or water at the facility. That conclusion came days after the FDA was forced to retract a faulty test result that had incorrectly identified cyclospora in a sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms collected at the border.
___
The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
