FDA Says False-Positive Test Doesn’t Clear Taylor Farms Lettuce as Source of Cyclospora Outbreak

The Food and Drug Administration says a false-positive lab sample does not change the basis for a Cyclospora investigation into lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms.Over the weekend, FDA alerted Taylor Farms that a new sample of shredded lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico tested positive for Cyclospora during import examination at the border. It re-checked the sample results and concluded the finding was a false positive, and it alerted Taylor Farms to the corrective test result on Sunday.Taylor Farms issued a statement that the FDA had “apologized to us” for the false positive test. “To be clear, at this moment, FDA has not identified a single positive product test result for Cyclospora,” the produce company said.On Monday, the FDA clarified that while there was a false positive test on a new shipment of imported lettuce, its traceback investigation and outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico. In an X post the federal regulator said there was “overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the current voluntary recall” on Taylor Farms lettuce and urged the public to continue to avoid all products listed in Taylor Farms’ voluntary recall.In a telephone briefing on Monday afternoon, a department spokesman denied that an apology had been offered to Taylor Farms and that the updated test results were simply communicated to the company.“FDA will continue to work with federal and state partners to investigate this multistate outbreak and ensure products implicated in this outbreak have been removed from the market,” the FDA said.Food blogger Helena Bottemiller Evich said that foodborne illness outbreaks often never get a positive test to tie a product to illness, especially for highly perishable products like lettuce. “Prediction: This is a public health communications nightmare that will be studied for a long time,” Ms. Evich said in an X post.Taylor Farms issued the recall last week after health officials said shredded lettuce used at Taco Bell restaurants in five states had been linked to a widespread parasitic outbreak that has caused more than 1,600 people to suffer from explosive diarrhea and vomiting.Taylor Fresh Foods iceberg products from June 29 through July 16 were recalled in more than two dozen states. Marketside-branded iceberg products were also sold at Walmart stores in more than a dozen states.Taco Bell announced on Thursday that it was voluntarily removing lettuce from an unnamed supplier “indefinitely” in some states after working with public health officials. “Taco Bell has taken precautionary action, and we encourage all relevant restaurants, retailers, and foodservice operators to do the same,” the fast-food chain said in a statement.Visits to Taco Bell have dropped considerably since the Cylospora outbreak was linked to the restaurant chain. Friday’s traffic was down 19 percent from the same day in a typical week according to Placer.ai, which tracks mobile phone device data.

FDA Says False-Positive Test Doesn’t Clear Taylor Farms Lettuce as Source of Cyclospora Outbreak

FDA Says False-Positive Test Doesn’t Clear Taylor Farms Lettuce as Source of Cyclospora Outbreak

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