A quick update on the Poo Flu

An explosive new development

So I WAS going to write up about how the FDA and other agencies linked the cyclospora parasite to lettuce from Taylor Farms in Mexico.

This happened July 17th, 3 days ago. It started to make HUGE waves since they supply Taco Bell, and influencers looking to score some cheap clicks — or just being ignorant — said Taco Bell was making everyone sick. In a way, it could be, but if it WAS Taylor Farms and their lettuce being the source, it wasn’t Taco Bell’s fault, and apparently Taylor Farms supplies lettuce EVERYWHERE: Walmart, other fast food chains, and upscale food markets, to name a few.

The lettuce goes EVERYWHERE, and we now have cases of the explosive diarrhea up here in Canada, with cases in our home province now being compared against the American outbreak.

Everywhere this lettuce was sold, over the last three days, had products pulled, with social media videos lambasting Taco Bell raking in millions and millions of views. Science folks were trying to correct these influencers, but the temptation and irony of blaming Taco Bell was too great.

Luckily, I was too busy to write up an article going over this on the weekend, because the FDA was wrong… apparently. Sigh.

Their test for Cyclospora in the Taylor Farms Mexico division turned out to be a false positive. This can happen when you’re looking for biomarkers of a parasite and not the parasite itself. There could be things tested for that pinged a YES, like chemicals or molecules related to the parasite, but they could also come from other sources.

So now things are a bit of a mess… as of today.

The FDA has given Taylor Farms a complete apology. There are now NO confirmed positive samples for this parasite in any Taylor products, and we’re all back to square one.

Food across North America is so interconnected, and because it takes WEEKS for symptoms to develop, asking folks who get the parasite what they ate and tracing it back is near impossible.

Bagged, prepared products were the culprit in other outbreaks, so it made sense that the bagged, shredded lettuce would be the thing that started the “poo flu” — but alas, not from this company.

Just thought I should give you all an update! Also some folks who HAVE this infection have reached out to us and they want everyone to know that it sucks. It sucks SO BAD.

Cook your veggies, and maybe avoid fresh, pre-cut stuff you can’t cook for the time being. This now likely includes Canada, or at least in the next week will probably be the recommendation.