Hold the Cilantro please
Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:21 pm
There’s more than just cilantro in the growing fields in Mexico, and that’s caused the Food and Drug Administration to institute a partial import ban on it through August.
The move comes after health officials found human feces and toilet paper in growing fields, which have been linked to hundreds of intestinal illnesses dating back to 2012.
The FDA will focus on product coming from Puebla, and all of it will need to be manually inspected and certified before being allowed into the U.S. Cilantro from other parts of the country will need to have documentation proving it did not come from Puebla.
In the report, the FDA outlines a number of different sources for the contamination after 11 farms and packing houses were inspected by both U.S. and Mexican officials.
Conditions observed at multiple such firms in the state of Puebla included human feces and toilet paper found in growing fields and around facilities; inadequately maintained and supplied toilet and hand washing facilities (no soap, no toilet paper, no running water, no paper towels) or a complete lack of toilet and hand washing facilities; food-contact surfaces (such as plastic crates used to transport cilantro or tables where cilantro was cut and bundled) visibly dirty and not washed; and water used for purposes such as washing cilantro vulnerable to contamination from sewage/septic systems.
Both Yum! Brands, which owns Taco Bell, and Chipotle told Bloomberg they don’t expect their cilantro supply to be impacted by the ban.
The move comes after health officials found human feces and toilet paper in growing fields, which have been linked to hundreds of intestinal illnesses dating back to 2012.
The FDA will focus on product coming from Puebla, and all of it will need to be manually inspected and certified before being allowed into the U.S. Cilantro from other parts of the country will need to have documentation proving it did not come from Puebla.
In the report, the FDA outlines a number of different sources for the contamination after 11 farms and packing houses were inspected by both U.S. and Mexican officials.
Conditions observed at multiple such firms in the state of Puebla included human feces and toilet paper found in growing fields and around facilities; inadequately maintained and supplied toilet and hand washing facilities (no soap, no toilet paper, no running water, no paper towels) or a complete lack of toilet and hand washing facilities; food-contact surfaces (such as plastic crates used to transport cilantro or tables where cilantro was cut and bundled) visibly dirty and not washed; and water used for purposes such as washing cilantro vulnerable to contamination from sewage/septic systems.
Both Yum! Brands, which owns Taco Bell, and Chipotle told Bloomberg they don’t expect their cilantro supply to be impacted by the ban.
