Taylor Farms will indefinitely suspend harvesting and processing iceberg lettuce from central Mexico for sale in the US or Canada during the CDC-defined cyclospora season, founder and CEO Bruce Taylor wrote in an Oct. 8 letter. The CDC defines the season as May 1 to Aug. 31, which coincides with the rainy season in central Mexico.
The move follows a cyclospora outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce that sickened 12,883 people across 21 states, hospitalized 570, and killed two, according to the FDA’s final count. The agency identified Taylor Farms de Mexico as the sole supplier of shredded iceberg lettuce to the Taco Bell locations linked to the illnesses.
Taylor also plans to:
expand year-round health monitoring and increase irrigation water and crop testing in central Mexico
lead and invest in research on cyclospora detection and prevention
join a task force with the FDA, scientists and industry leaders
The FDA found cyclospora in wastewater at the Taylor Farms de Mexico processing plant and in a drainage ditch at an iceberg lettuce farm. However, it said there was “not enough evidence to conclusively determine how contamination occurred.” The CDC declared the outbreak over last month.
Sysco stopped buying iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms and Mexico during the outbreak. “We’re not buying iceberg lettuce from them, and we’re not buying it from Mexico,” CEO Kevin Hourican told Reuters in August.
Taylor said it will continue working with the FDA on the agency’s Cyclospora Prevention, Response and Research Action Plan.
