By Clint Thompson
A potential outbreak of the Cyclospora parasite impacting lettuce should serve as a reminder to Southeast farmers about the importance of food safety protocols and keeping good records of food safety activities.
Keith Schneider, a professor in the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) food science and human nutrition department, talked about food safety in an interview with AgNet Media.
“For farmers here and your audience, basically the rules that you get, or you might find them annoying are there for a reason. They’re there to help prevent this from happening to their farm and loss of confidence in their brand, which may never come back,” Schneider said. “And even though these outbreaks don’t happen that often, it shouldn’t mean they should ignore the science behind them.”
It is a potential outbreak since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) apologized to Taylor Fresh Foods on Sunday, noting that there was a false positive for the parasite.
“To be clear, at this moment, FDA has not identified a single positive product test result for Cyclospora,” Taylor Fresh Froods said in a press release.
Taylor Fresh Foods recalled iceberg lettuce source from central Mexico and distributed in 27 states, based off initial information provided by health officials.
Food Safety Regulations
Fortunately for Southeast fruit and vegetable farmers, they have to operate under strict food safety regulations. Those rules are in place to prevent an outbreak and long-term damage to a farming brand.
“Most farmers go through their entire working lives without ever having an issue. People can get a little complacent at times. Again, any advice I would give is basically the rules are there for a reason,” Schneider said. “These things are very rare, but when they do happen, they can be devastating. Just follow the rules as best you can, and hopefully things will go well.
“Farmers just need to continue doing their due diligence, continue following good agricultural practices. Most of the farmers now are under or are being regulated by the Produce Safety Rule and their compliance to that helps limit foodborne illnesses.”