FDA Says Enhanced Monitoring Led to Reductions In Illness From Bad Cilantro

U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials are crediting enhanced monitoring of produce from Mexico to a drop in cyclospora infections.

Contaminated cilantro from Puebla, Mexico, making its way into the U.S. was blamed for a spike in domestically acquired cyclospora cayetanensis infections, according to a report in Food Safety News. The parasite-spread infection resulting from contaminated food or water caused 134 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis as of Sept. 16, according to a recent update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That's a drop from 319 confirmed cases during the same period of testing last year. The 134 cases originated from: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Cyclospora infection causes watery, and sometimes explosive, diarrhea. Fresh produce is often the culprit in many cases of cyclospora infection, according to health officials. So far in 2016, there have been 384 cases of infection reported.

Since April 2015, FDA officials have been detaining fresh cilantro from the Puebla region of Mexico after it was implicated in several foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S., Food Safety News reported. The agency issued an Import Alert on Aug. 27, 2015, announcing that it would detain fresh cilantro on a seasonal basis after joint U.S.-Mexico inspections from 2013-2015 at Puebla-area farms and packinghouses found “objectionable conditions” that could contaminate produce with “human fecal pathogens,” the trade publication reported.

“Beginning in 2015, from April 1 through August 31, cilantro from this region has been and continues to be detained without physical examination at the U.S.-Mexican border and refused admission into the United States," the FDA noted in a Sept. 26 update.

Yet not all cilantro from Puebla is bad. Exceptions for fresh cilantro have been granted to 10 Puebla-area firms on a so-called “Green List,” the publication reported. Inclusion on the list signifies that exporting companies have met certain production practices criteria for exclusion from detention without physical examination under the Import Alert, the report read.

The FDA and two Mexican government agencies — the National Agro-Alimentary Health, Safety and Quality Service and Federal Commission for the Protection from Sanitary Risks — established production criteria in promoting the safety of fresh and minimally processed agricultural products, Food Safety News reported. To that end, a statement of intent was signed on July 24, 2014, to cooperate in the Produce Safety Partnership.

As of Sept. 14, 2015, the CDC reported 546 cases of confirmed cyclospora infections from 31 states, the report continues. Of that total, 319 had experienced illness onset on or after May 1 of last year and had no history of international travel within two weeks before becoming sickened, according to the report.

From that sample, 21 people were hospitalized, but no deaths were reported, the report states. Illness clusters linked to restaurants or events were identified in Texas, Wisconsin and Georgia, and investigations in Wisconsin and Texas identified cilantro as a “suspect vehicle,” according to CDC.

Left untreated, cyclospora infection results in symptoms that can persist for several weeks to a month, sometimes longer. Recurring diarrhea, muscle aches and fatigue are among the unpleasant side effects, although it is rarely life-threatening.

Story by Tony Cantu

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