The FDA announced today that it found Cyclospora, at the Taylor Farms lettuce processing facility in Central Mexico, as well as on a contract grower’s farm.
Iceberg lettuce from the operation was linked to a massive outbreak of infections from the Cyclospora parasite this summer that saw 12,883 people sickened. The CDC counted 570 hospitalizations and two deaths in the outbreak. The CDC reported on Sept. 11 that the outbreak had ended.
The findings from the Food and Drug Administration that were revealed on Oct. 2 cement the link between Taylor Farms and the outbreak. Initial links between outbreak patients and the company’s iceberg lettuce came in July when patrons of Taco Bell restaurants started becoming ill. The sick people had eaten menu items that contained the lettuce, which the restaurant chain sourced from Taylor Farms.
The FDA’s traceback investigation identified several farms and a processing facility in Mexico that provided recalled lettuce distributed by Taylor Fresh Foods. As part of this investigation, the FDA conducted onsite inspections and sample collection at multiple iceberg lettuce growers and the processing facility in Mexico, in coordination with Mexican officials.
Sampling included water, soil, sediment and iceberg lettuce. Of the samples collected during the onsite inspections in Mexico, two samples tested positive for Cyclospora. One positive sample was from a tank that held outgoing wastewater from the Taylor Farms de Mexico processing facility. The second positive sample was collected from a drainage ditch of an iceberg lettuce grower identified in the FDA’s traceback investigation.
Although genotyping of both of the positive samples has been completed, the FDA is continuing its analysis to determine how results for these samples relate to ongoing genotyping of specimens from outbreak patients.
The FDA says there is currently not enough evidence to conclusively determine how contamination occurred in the outbreak, the positive samples show that Cyclospora was present in the environment where lettuce was grown and processed. This adds to the strong epidemiological data and traceback convergence supporting the link between this outbreak and recalled shredded iceberg lettuce from the Taylor Farms operation in Central Mexico.
A Taylor Fresh Foods spokesperson told ABC News that the central Mexico facility remains closed while the company works with its research team on enhanced safety protocols and that the independent grower where the positive sample was found is no longer part of its supplier program.
