The discovery of used toilet paper and human feces in fields of cilantro in the Mexican state of Puebla is plainly unacceptable, but at least it is good news that FDA has identified the problem and can now turn away potentially tainted cilantro at the border.
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“Districts may detain without physical examination shipments of fresh cilantro from Mexico offered for entry from April 1 through August 31 of every year, unless the cilantro is offered for entry from a firm listed on the Green List of this import alert”, according to the alert.
Since 2013, the FDA and Mexican authorities have inspected 11 farms and packing houses that produce cilantro from Puebla. Cilantro from other parts of Mexico will need documentation to prove the product isn’t from Puebla, about a two-hour drive southeast of Mexico City. And Taco Bell Corp. said in an e-mail that its cilantro comes from California.
The restaurant chain Chipotle doesn’t use cilantro from Puebla, a spokesman told The Post in an e-mail.
Investigators found that a few farms had no toilets for employees, and discovered feces and toilet paper in the fields. Some had a complete lack of toilet facilities.
In its “import alert” issued Monday, the FDA said it suspects the contamination came from “contact with the parasite shed from the intestinal tract of humans” in the growing fields, contaminated water or harvesting, processing and packing activities.
“(Inspectors) observed objectionable conditions at eight of them, including all five of the firms linked through traceback to the U.S. illnesses”, as indicated by the import alert. Most of the illnesses occurred in June and July. Officials say seven people in the state were hospitalized, but no deaths were reported.
State health officials in Texas and Wisconsin linked multiple outbreak clusters in their states this year and the previous three years to cilantro from Puebla, Mexico, through traceback efforts, reported by the FDA.
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The Associated Press also noted outbreaks from 2013 and 2014 in its report. Currently, the Texas Department of State Health Services is investigating another 205 cases that took place this year.
