The FDA is walking back its initial claims that a Taco Bell lettuce supplier is responsible for sickening hundreds of Americans with explosive diarrhea, saying the original test results were a “false positive.”
The stunning reversal comes after the agency double-checked a lettuce sample, which found that the leafy green supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico did not have traces of Cyclospora – the parasite that causes the crappy condition.
“FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive,” the agency said on its website Sunday.
The FDA also added that there are currently no confirmed samples of products testing positive for the parasitic pathogens.
Taylor Farms, the parent company of Taylor Farms de Mexico, said that the FDA had “apologized” to them about the false positive, saying they made a “mistake.”
“Today, we were informed that FDA made a mistake, and this was a false positive,” Taylor Farms said in a statement.
The false alarm retracts the FDA’s Friday announcement, which linked the outbreak of the debilitating “explosive diarrhea” parasite to the Taylor Fresh Farm’s subsidiary.
Officials originally said that contaminated lettuce was grown in Central Mexico and then shipped to Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia, where it sickened people.
Consumers were told to toss Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce, which is used...
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