Confusion abounds in the cyclospora outbreak that has sickened thousands in at least 41 states, as officials identify a new cluster of cases and more potential products come under scrutiny.<\/p>\n
The recall of products during this outbreak of explosive diarrhea has been an unusual one, complicated by poor communication, politicization and the delay of a new regulatory rule could have helped trace the cyclosporiasis outbreak faster.<\/p>\n
At least 72 people have been sickened by another as-yet unknown source of cyclospora, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now tracing back to the potential contamination source, according to an update<\/a> from the agency on Wednesday.<\/p>\n It joins another investigation, still ongoing, that led to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, a mega-producer based in the US with facilities in Mexico.<\/p>\n Officials in North Carolina also identified<\/a> parsley and cilantro, in addition to lettuce, as potentially linked to the state\u2019s 561 confirmed cases.<\/p>\n \u201cThe amount of cases we\u2019re having right now is incredibly high, and it\u2019s clear that there\u2019s multiple outbreaks happening all at once,\u201d said Katelyn Jetelina, science communicator and founder of Your Local Epidemiologist. \u201cThe news of another cluster isn\u2019t too surprising to me. What is is how little information was given. The communication just continually is falling short, which is leaving all of us on the outside to put these puzzle pieces together.\u201d<\/p>\n With all clusters of cases, \u201cthe key question is whether the source can stop,\u201d said Joshua Sharfstein, a public health professor at Johns Hopkins University and former principal deputy commissioner at the FDA.<\/p>\n If there was a confined burst of contamination, the outbreak could end soon; but if the soil or water is still contaminated, \u201cthen there\u2019s a risk of ongoing contamination, and that\u2019s kind of what FDA has to worry about,\u201d he said. And \u201cthe ability to say all the downstream products \u2013 that has traditionally been very hard\u201d.<\/p>\n A new regulation was supposed to help<\/a> with all of that.<\/p>\n Last year, the FDA proposed<\/a> the Food Traceability Rule in order to more quickly track and identify foods at high risk of being contaminated by foodborne pathogens \u2013 including iceberg lettuce.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is exactly the sort of gap that the food traceability list is meant to close,\u201d Jetelina said.<\/p>\n The new regulation was required by the Food<\/a> Safety Modernization Act of 2011, and it was finally set to go into effect in January.<\/p>\n \u201cProbably the most important thing about that law was that companies like Taylor Farms have to recognize the risk and have these processes to address it,\u201d Sharfstein said.<\/p>\n But food suppliers asked for more time, and it is now planned to take effect in early 2028.<\/p>\n These epidemiological investigations are particularly important since cyclospora is so difficult to detect in produce. Without the updated rule, traceback investigations can take days or weeks \u2013 which can allow an outbreak to spread even more.<\/p>\n The recall from Taylor Farms has been plagued with confusion and reversals. Last Thursday, businesses supplied by Taylor Farms learned they should not use the lettuce before the FDA\u2019s announcements, according to reporting<\/a> by Consumer Reports. Executives also met with the White House and the FDA to distance themselves from the cyclospora outbreak, according to reporting by the New York Times<\/a> and Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Friday, the FDA warned<\/a> against eating shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia \u2013 but the agency did not identify the producer at that point, noting only that they were located in Mexico.<\/p>\n Taylor Farms posted to Facebook on Friday afternoon that none of their salads or kits were associated with the outbreak, the Times also reported; the post appears to be deleted now, with no posts visible on their page since 8 July. The Taylor Farms website still said there were no active recalls. \u201cIn the rare event a product does not meet these standards, we take immediate action to remove affected items from distribution and notify our customers,\u201d the website said.<\/p>\n A Taylor Farms sign is displayed at one of their facilities on 17 July in Salinas, California. Photograph: Benjamin Fanjoy\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The recall was posted later that evening, noting that the potentially contaminated lettuce had been shipped as recently as Thursday.<\/p>\n The voluntary recall said that 27 states might be affected by the contaminated lettuce. And it took the unusual approach of not listing brand names, instead using internal product numbers \u2013 which appear to correspond<\/a> with products sold in stores such as Walmart and potentially restaurants such as Subway. That greatly complicated the ability of stores, restaurants and customers to know which products were involved in the recall.<\/p>\n \u201cThe actual recall notice from Taylor Farms was incredibly weird, because you had to decode it,\u201d Jetelina said.<\/p>\n On Saturday, the FDA added an update: lettuce that was not part of the recall had tested positive for cyclospora. But on Sunday, the FDA deleted that line and said the test was a false positive. The recall still existed, FDA officials told journalists on Monday \u2013 despite confusing messaging from the supplier.<\/p>\n