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FDA probe disputes Taylor Farms’ role in major cyclosporiasis outbreak
The FDA said a false positive would have only expanded an existing recall and that a corrected lab result did not change the agency’s determination, as the outbreak sickened thousands and led to more than 300 hospitalizations.
Taylor Farms said the US Food and Drug Administration had apologized to the company after an agency lab test linking its produce to a decades-worst cyclosporiasis outbreak was later deemed a false positive. In response, the FDA denied apologizing, arguing the incorrect test result would have only expanded an existing recall and would not have cleared Taylor Farms.
The FDA also sought to clarify other statements from Taylor Farms that experts described as misleading, according to Insurance Journal. Cyclosporiasis, a parasite-caused gastrointestinal illness, can cause severe diarrhea, and the outbreak sickened thousands and hospitalized more than 300 people.
Insurance Journal reports that as case counts rose, Taylor Farms effectively delayed a recall, leading to customer confusion, according to a US official who asked not to be identified. The official said the company challenged the science privately while “obfuscating it publicly,” and that Taylor Farms later met with FDA and White House officials to discuss a public health approach.
The Health and Human Services spokesperson Emily Hilliard said one lab test produced a false positive for a shipment outside the scope of the current recall and that FDA notified the company after receiving the result. Susan Mayne, a former FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition director, said the recall notice was unusually confusing, as reported by Insurance Journal.