Taylor Farms Says No Lettuce Tested Positive; CDC and FDA Explain in Writing Why That Has Never Been the Test
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 — Taylor Farms is stressing on its Cyclospora information hub that no lettuce tested positive for the parasite, even as it says it stands behind the decision to recall, according to LexBlog. The FDA's Oct. 2 closing document said two environmental samples — outgoing wastewater at the Taylor Farms de Mexico plant and a drainage ditch at a supplying grower — tested positive, adding to epidemiological data and traceback convergence linking the recalled iceberg lettuce to the largest Cyclospora outbreak on record in the U.S., with 12,883 illnesses.
Reviewing the public record, LexBlog found that the CDC, FDA, USDA, the nation's state epidemiologists and the produce industry's own trade groups have each explained, in writing, the same methodology: an outbreak link is built from epidemiology, traceback, and food or environmental testing. Finding the strain in a food can 'also' confirm the source — also, not only. Conversely, a positive food sample alone, without interviews showing patients ate the product, cannot by itself confirm a source.
In practice, negative product samples may reflect uneven distribution between lots or the simple fact that the implicated lot had already sold through before sampling. For consumers, the practical guidance is unchanged: recalled iceberg lettuce should not be eaten and can be returned under the recall notice.
Source: LexBlog, Oct. 4, reviewing the CDC's published investigation steps and the FDA closing file.
Photo: The Nation's Salad Bowl — Malcolm Carlaw / CC BY 2.0 (via Openverse)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: The Nation's Salad Bowl — Malcolm Carlaw / CC BY 2.0 (via Openverse)
