Lettuce Pray... For Food Safety
The contamination of iceberg lettuce spreading across the country is inconvenient to some, but it poses a serious risk of hospitalization and death to older Americans.
The federal government says there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illnesses in the United States each year, resulting in roughly 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.
Meanwhile, older Americans are most at risk for hospitalization and death due to foodborne illness as a result of their weakened immune systems.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says people aged 65 and older account for 53 to 56 percent of foodborne illness deaths in the U.S. They are four times more likely than young people to be hospitalized due to foodborne illness, and 10 to 15 times more likely to die when compared to healthy young adults.
It is therefore disconcerting that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) seem to be scrambling around like keystone cops on an ice skating rink in their response to the current food poisoning outbreak related to iceberg lettuce that has now spread to 20 states.
The FDA began investigating what some are calling “Lettuce-gate” in mid-July.
Thousands of people have reported sickness after eating lettuce containing the parasite, Cyclospora, a single-celled organism found in human feces. Authorities suspect the contamination occurred when the lettuce was irrigated with dirty water.
On July 18, the FDA accused Taylor Farms de Mexico of Guanajuato, Mexico, of distributing contaminated lettuce, claiming it had tested a sample of Taylor lettuce that tested positive for the Cyclospora.
The day before the FDA announcement — on July 17 — Taylor Farms initiated a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico and distributed to 18 states. The lettuce was sold to restaurants like Taco Bell and to consumers of Marketside-branded bagged lettuce products at Walmarts.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Taylor Farms contacted the White House in an effort to delay a recall announcement linking it to the outbreak. The Trump administration reviewed the FDA’s findings, and gave the agency the green light to go forward with the recall.
On July 19, the FDA backtracked, announcing that the sample of Taylor lettuce it had tested yielded a “false positive.”
After the FDA’s announcement, Taylor Farms issued a statement claiming: “No Taylor Farms branded products are involved in this recall.” (Whatever that means?)
The FDA continues to blame Taylor Farms’ lettuce as a likely culprit in the outbreak. The FDA said cases “with Taco Bell exposure” have been reported in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The FDA also reported that “Taco Bell has indicated they are no longer using lettuce from Taylor Farms.”
“Do not eat recalled iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico. FDA’s investigation is ongoing.” - the FDA
The importance of food inspections and recalls cannot be understated.
