From Lettuce to Jalapeños, What's Up With All the U.S. Food Recalls?

• Several major food recalls have occurred in recent weeks, involving products such as lettuce, jalapeños, eggs, salsa, guacamole, and frozen berries.
• The recalls have involved concerns about Salmonella, E. coli, and Cyclospora contamination.
• Experts say the complexity of the global food supply can allow contaminated products to be distributed across large geographic areas.
• Advances in surveillance and testing are also helping health officials detect foodborne illness outbreaks more quickly.

From lettuce and jalapeños to salsa and guacamole, and even eggs, there have been multiple food recalls across the United States in recent weeks. 

The recalls have involved concerns about contamination with foodborne pathogens and parasites, including Salmonella, E. coli, and Cyclospora.

Major recalls have included: 

• Many Taco Bell locations recalled lettuce from Taylor Farms in mid-July due to a possible connection to the cyclosporiasis outbreak. Although the initial test was determined to be a false positive, the locations still discontinued sales of iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico.
• At the same time, Taylor Farms voluntarily recalled all iceberg lettuce products sourced from central Mexico. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is confident that all contaminated products should no longer be for sale in major outlets. 
• At the end of July, Midwest Poultry Services voluntarily recalled 1,589,577 white shell and brown cage-free shell eggs produced in Texas due to potential contamination with Salmonella. This affected retail chains in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Mississippi. 
• Also, at the end of July, Publix recalled all lots of GreenWise Organic Whole Blueberries and Whole Mixed Berries due to potential E. coli contamination. This recall was upgraded to the highest status by the FDA in mid-August.
• In early August, Chipotle and Qdoba locations across the country recalled jalapeños due to a potential link to a Salmonella outbreak. 
• Around the same time, Taylor Farms recalled products containing jalapeños, such as salsas and guacamole, due to Salmonella. This affected major retailers across 26 states. 

An FDA spokesperson told Healthline, “While the underlying causes of this year’s outbreaks remain unclear, the FDA continues to work with federal, state, and international partners to investigate these multistate outbreaks and ensure products implicated in these outbreaks have been removed from the market.”

Why are there so many food recalls lately?

The increasingly complex global food chain can allow contamination to affect products distributed across a wide geographic area. However, there are also more backstops in place to protect the food supply than there were, and there is greater coordination among federal, state, and local public health officials.

“Ensuring the safety of the food supply is a shared responsibility among many different points in the global supply chain. All stakeholders must actively participate in food safety efforts, as foodborne illness outbreaks affect both consumers and the entire industry,” said an FDA spokesperson. 

William Schaffner, MD, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University, noted that two features of our changing food supply system can set the stage for occasional, widespread outbreaks caused by contaminated produce: industrialization and internationalization.

He explained to Healthline that large food companies source produce from farms far and wide, so contamination from one farm can affect the products of many farms. The produce is then widely distributed to stores and restaurants located in many states.

Schaffner also noted that many fresh fruits and vegetables come from other countries, where oversight of irrigation water and produce washing practices may vary. These factors can contribute to widespread outbreaks like those the country has experienced this summer.

How are food recalls identified? 

The FDA spokesperson explained that the FDA evaluates trends, analyzes underlying causes, and adapts oversight strategies to address risks in an increasingly complex food system, all with the goal of reducing foodborne illness and protecting the public.

It is continually working to improve laboratory detection of foodborne illness, and these strengthened surveillance efforts often lead to increased detection rates.

The FDA’s work to improve methods for Cyclospora detection and attribution is a good example of this, with the agency working with domestic and international regulatory partners to share these methods and promote their use.

Schaffner said that over the past 20 years, scientific and IT advances have enabled public health to make more frequent and faster diagnoses of foodborne illness, as well as the capacity to better analyze data from different states to tie them together to define widespread outbreaks. 

“Thus, the more you look, the more you will find. Today, we have a better capacity to diagnose foodborne outbreaks early,” he added.

How consumers can protect themselves from food-borne bacteria and parasites

Salmonella infection and cyclosporiasis can both result from consuming contaminated food. Salmonella infection is caused by Salmonella bacteria, while cyclosporiasis is caused by the Cyclospora parasite, which can spread through food or water contaminated with feces.

Practicing safe food handling can help prevent cyclosporiasis, including: 

• Wash your hands with soap and water before and after handling and preparing raw fruits and vegetables.
• Wash all fruits and vegetables under running water before cutting, cooking, or eating.
• Scrub firm fruits and vegetables, like melons and cucumbers, with a clean produce brush.
• Cut away any damaged or bruised areas before preparing and eating.
• Refrigerate cut, peeled, or cooked fruits and vegetables as soon as possible, but no later than 2 hours.

To help reduce the risk of Salmonella infection:

• Cook food thoroughly and use a food thermometer. Poultry should reach 165ºF (74ºC), and ground beef should reach 160ºF (71ºC).
• Keep raw and cooked foods separate. Use different cutting boards and utensils for each.
• Wash your hands with soap and water before and after handling food, after using the bathroom, and after touching animals.
• Don’t leave perishable food at room temperature for more than 2 hours, or for 1 hour if it’s above 90°F (32°C).

“A few sensible precautions will let us all enjoy the bounty of our food supply,” said Schaffner.