- The FDA retracted its July 18 finding that Taylor Farms lettuce tested positive for Cyclospora.
- Taylor Farms says the FDA apologized; the agency had not confirmed positive product tests as of July 19.
- The outbreak has sickened 1,644 people across five states, with 94 hospitalizations but no deaths.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is backing off its finding that the Cyclospora parasite responsible for sickening thousands was found in a sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms.
The FDA now says that further review of the finding shows the test result was a false positive. The agency has not identified any product as responsible for the illness outbreak.
Taylor Farms in a statement said the FDA apologized. The FDA, for its part, said it doesn’t know the source of the cyclosporiasis, an illness which typically comes from eating fresh produce that has been contaminated with feces, often from irrigation water. A parasite called Cyclospora can get in the digestive tract and cause illness that sometimes lasts weeks.
Cyclosporiasis can cause weeks of gastrointestinal misery, including aggressive diarrhea. Other symptoms can include loss of appetite, weight loss, stomach cramps/pain, bloating, increased gas, nausea, and fatigue. Vomiting, body aches, headache, and fever may occur, per the FDA.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had linked cases back to Taco Bell in five states — Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia — which in turn appeared to link to the lettuce after that test. It’s not clear now where the infections originated.
In response to the FDA traceback investigation and “from an abundance of caution,” Taylor Farms said it had recalled iceberg lettuce grown and processed in central Mexico.
The Wall Street Journal reported that “future lab tests could identify the parasite’s presence on other samples of Taylor Farms-supplied lettuce, but the finding gives a boost to a company navigating the fallout from the outbreak.”