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Good morning. Sending thoughts and prayers to all the bagged salad girlies out there. For news, don’t miss Sarah Todd’s great story on THC beverages, which was spurred by a colleague’s rant in one of our regular team meetings.
Clarifying the latest on cyclospora
Despite reports of a false positive test for the diarrhea-causing parasite, federal officials said yesterday that they’re still focused on Taylor Farms as the source of the cyclosporiasis outbreak, which has sickened at least 1,644 people. The sample in question wasn’t part of the company’s larger recall on shredded lettuce and salad products, meaning it’s still possible those products were contaminated. While the outbreak was initially linked to Taco Bell, the recalled products were also sent to Walmart, Jack in the Box, and major food service distributors like Sysco, per Consumer Reports.
“FDA’s traceback investigation and the outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms’ locations in central Mexico,” Donald Prater, FDA acting food chief, said on a press call. While the recalled product went out to 28 states, it’s worth noting that, right now, cases are extremely concentrated in just a handful: Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and, to a lesser extent, Kentucky and West Virginia.
