Fresh basil blamed for foodborne outbreak in Florida
Fresh basil blamed for foodborne outbreak in Florida
WASHINGTON After investigating more than 300 cases of cyclospora infections, Florida health officials believe that people got sick from eating fresh basil and have asked the Food & Drug Administration to start tracing the product back to the farm.
Florida officials began seeing a rise in cases of cyclospora infections in April, which triggered the investigation. As of press time, the Florida Department of Health reported 303 laboratory-confirmed cases across 33 counties. Six of those cases were added to the list during the past week.
Once the probe pointed to fresh basil, state health officials asked FDA on June 2 to begin the traceback. The outbreak includes several clusters and a large number of sporadic cases.
"FDA is aggressively working with our federal and state partners to determine the source of the contaminated product and taking appropriate action to protect the public," said Robert Brackett, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition.
At the moment, its too early to know if the source was domestic or imported, said an FDA spokesman. We are currently exploring whether or not this is related to the outbreak in Canada.
Toronto health officials are still investigating an outbreak involving the same parasite that sickened children and adults on a school trip. A cluster of 40 cases of cyclosporiasis has been detected among a group of 63 students and teachers who attended the school retreat. Toronto officials suspect a pasta salad served to the children as the likely source of the outbreak, but officials have yet to announce their results.
Florida health officials asked victims what they had eaten, then began to systematically remove food items from the list of potential sources, said Lindsay Hodges, spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health.
Because cyclospora is not a life-threatening parasite, health officials had ample time to be thorough in their investigation before announcing the results. We were fortunate that the organism is not fatal, she said. But a complicating factor was that this outbreak involved nearly half of the state 33 of Floridas 67 counties.
Most of the 303 cases were reported to health authorities in mid-March to mid-April, with a few cases in May, when the fresh basil was believed to be in circulation, she said. The last cases reported during the week of June 6 could have been attributed to frozen basil, she added.
We havent put out a message to not eat basil, said Ms. Hodges, because the product is most likely out of circulation.
Florida health officials reminded consumers to wash all fresh fruits and vegetables, including fresh herbs, under running tap water before eating them.
This latest outbreak comes as Florida health officials were already in a heightened alert mode because of an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 from a local petting zoo. The important thing is that the outbreak does not appear to be ongoing, said Jennifer Tong of the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association. There seems to be more questions than answers at this point.
Ms. Tong said that a weather-causing drop in domestic basil production has prompted suppliers to seek more product from Mexico. But that product has been harvested more times than usual and that can lead to quality issues, she added. Its just too early to tell, though.
United continues to remind members to follow food safety guidelines at the farm and distribution levels, and the association will continue to monitor the FDA investigation.
Florida officials began seeing a rise in cases of cyclospora infections in April, which triggered the investigation. As of press time, the Florida Department of Health reported 303 laboratory-confirmed cases across 33 counties. Six of those cases were added to the list during the past week.
Once the probe pointed to fresh basil, state health officials asked FDA on June 2 to begin the traceback. The outbreak includes several clusters and a large number of sporadic cases.
"FDA is aggressively working with our federal and state partners to determine the source of the contaminated product and taking appropriate action to protect the public," said Robert Brackett, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition.
At the moment, its too early to know if the source was domestic or imported, said an FDA spokesman. We are currently exploring whether or not this is related to the outbreak in Canada.
Toronto health officials are still investigating an outbreak involving the same parasite that sickened children and adults on a school trip. A cluster of 40 cases of cyclosporiasis has been detected among a group of 63 students and teachers who attended the school retreat. Toronto officials suspect a pasta salad served to the children as the likely source of the outbreak, but officials have yet to announce their results.
Florida health officials asked victims what they had eaten, then began to systematically remove food items from the list of potential sources, said Lindsay Hodges, spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health.
Because cyclospora is not a life-threatening parasite, health officials had ample time to be thorough in their investigation before announcing the results. We were fortunate that the organism is not fatal, she said. But a complicating factor was that this outbreak involved nearly half of the state 33 of Floridas 67 counties.
Most of the 303 cases were reported to health authorities in mid-March to mid-April, with a few cases in May, when the fresh basil was believed to be in circulation, she said. The last cases reported during the week of June 6 could have been attributed to frozen basil, she added.
We havent put out a message to not eat basil, said Ms. Hodges, because the product is most likely out of circulation.
Florida health officials reminded consumers to wash all fresh fruits and vegetables, including fresh herbs, under running tap water before eating them.
This latest outbreak comes as Florida health officials were already in a heightened alert mode because of an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 from a local petting zoo. The important thing is that the outbreak does not appear to be ongoing, said Jennifer Tong of the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association. There seems to be more questions than answers at this point.
Ms. Tong said that a weather-causing drop in domestic basil production has prompted suppliers to seek more product from Mexico. But that product has been harvested more times than usual and that can lead to quality issues, she added. Its just too early to tell, though.
United continues to remind members to follow food safety guidelines at the farm and distribution levels, and the association will continue to monitor the FDA investigation.
