FDA still focused on Taylor Farms amid cyclospora outbreak
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Federal health officials on Monday stressed they are still focusing on shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms as the likely source of a cyclospora outbreak , despite walking back a statement that a sample of lettuce tested positive for contamination.
“Due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive,” FDA said in a statement on Sunday.
The false positive complicates the agency’s public health messaging. On Monday, officials worked to inform the public that nothing had changed. The company recall was still in effect, and batches of its shredded lettuce should be avoided.
“FDA’s traceback investigation and outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico,” the agency said in a social media post Monday afternoon.
There was “overwhelming epidemiological data” to support the voluntary recall, FDA added.
The false positive “doesn’t take away from the importance of continuing to remove contaminated product from store shelves that was found as part of the outbreak investigation. Test results are difficult to obtain, and most of the time, our traceback and epidemiologic information are what allows us to determine the source of the outbreak,” Donald Prater, FDA’s acting deputy commissioner for food, told reporters Monday.
Taylor Farms claimed in a statement the FDA apologized for publicizing what turned out to be a false positive, something that that agency officials denied .
“We notified Taylor Farm of the result, and we explain the circumstances under which it was obtained,” one official said.
“We did not offer an official apology,” another said.
Meanwhile, health officials in Michigan announced cases in that state had risen to 6,148 on Monday, a jump of more than 1,000 cases over the weekend.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Sunday said that a follow-up review of a lettuce sample collected from Taylor Farms determined it was a false positive for cyclospora, the diarrhea-causing parasite that has caused a nationwide outbreak. The FDA previously stated on Saturday that the shredded lettuce sample provided by Taylor Farms from central Mexico tested positive and that another test was needed given “the ...
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