The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded its investigation of this past summer’s multistate parasite outbreak, saying its testing had positively identified the source of the outbreak as cyclospora at a farm in Guanajuato that supplied iceberg lettuce to a U.S. distributor.

With that, the FDA declared its inquiry closed, even though its probe did not conclusively determine how the contamination occurred.

Cofepris claims tests conducted by its national reference laboratory ​on raw materials, finished products and water from ⁠the facilities in Guanajuato were negative ​for the cyclospora parasite. (Unsplash)

In a press release, the FDA said its studies “identified several farms and a processing facility in Mexico that provided recalled lettuce distributed by Taylor Fresh Foods,” adding that there is “strong epidemiological data and traceback convergence supporting the link between this outbreak and recalled shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de México.”

While the FDA investigations were conducted in coordination with Mexican officials, Mexico’s food-safety regulator Cofepris insists there is no conclusive evidence to attribute the origin to Mexican products.

Cofepris claims tests conducted by its national reference laboratory ​on raw materials, finished products and water from ⁠the facilities in Guanajuato were negative ​for the cyclospora parasite.

It also asserts that environmental ​findings alone do not constitute conclusive evidence that agricultural products were the source of contamination.

The FDA conceded much the same in its press release, saying “[w]hile there is currently not enough evidence to conclusively determine how contamination occurred in this outbreak, the positive samples show that Cyclospora was present in the environment where lettuce was grown and processed.”

As such, Cofepris insists the available analytical data does not allow for a determination that Mexican products were the source of the outbreak.

For its part, Taylor Farms blamed the contamination on an independent grower who is no longer part of its supplier program.

The inspection of the Taylor Farms Guanajuato facility occurred in August and was the FDA’s first in more than seven years following a steep drop in international food safety inspections after the Covid pandemic.

“Our facility remains closed in central Mexico as we work with our research team to implement enhanced safety protocols from the field to the facility,” Taylor Farms said.

This latest inconclusive outcome comes after conflicting findings in July when the FDA admitted that a laboratory test had resulted in a false positive.

The outbreak, which was declared to be over on ​Sept. 11 by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, sickened 12,883 people in 21 U.S. states, resulting in the hospitalization of 570 people. It was also linked to two deaths.

With reports from The New York Times, The Guardian, Reuters and La Jornada

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