Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on Monday that some large growers and retailers have stopped sourcing produce from a Central Mexico region linked to a cyclosporiasis outbreak because of concerns about widespread contamination.
An FDA investigation tied the outbreak to Taylor Farms' iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell, owned by Yum Brands (YUM.N), in nine states. The health regulator has said it is investigating other produce.
The outbreak has resulted in 4,173 laboratory-confirmed cases, with health authorities aware of more than 7,400 additional suspected cases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Michigan, which has reported more than 9,000 recorded cases, also said it is still looking for the causes of ongoing cases.
Speaking on CNBC, Gottlieb said multiple outbreak clusters, including in the Great Lakes region, New York and North Carolina, appeared to be linked to potentially parsley and cilantro from Central Mexico, though investigators have not determined the exact source.
Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that can cause prolonged gastrointestinal illness.
Gottlieb said there may have been a contamination event affecting multiple fields in the region. Raw sewage could have reached growing areas through irrigation water, flooding, overflowing portable toilets used by farm workers or a sewage canal breach, he said, emphasizing that the cause remains under investigation.
"So there was some event that happened in central Mexico. We don't know what yet," he said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not provide a comment to Reuters' request.
U.S. grocers including Kroger(KR.N), Walmart (WMT.O), Target (TGT.N) and Costco (COST.O) and Amazon Fresh, restaurant operators such as Taco Bell, Chipotle (CMG.N) and Wendy's (WEN.O) as well as supplier Taylor Farms did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
MULTIPLE CLUSTERS
Gottlieb said some larger growers and retailers were no longer sourcing produce from the region because it is viewed as potentially linked to the outbreak.
"A lot of that product is being taken out of supply chains, so that should mitigate some of the ongoing risk," he said.
He did not identify the companies involved. Taylor Farms has said it is no longer sourcing from the region and shut down its production facility there.
Gottlieb said weather conditions had raised the risk of contamination, prompting officials to anticipate a worse-than-usual cyclospora season.
"When we're seeing 10,000 reported cases, probably the true number of cases is 10 to 20 X (times) that," said Gottlieb. "This is the largest outbreak we've ever seen in history of cyclospora."
