Dive Brief:
- The FDA has issued an import alert for cilantro from Puebla, Mexico, after federal and state officials linked the crop to recurring outbreaks of cyclospora parasites in Texas and Wisconsin, which have occurred since 2012.
- "Districts may detain without physical examination shipments of fresh cilantro from Mexico offered for entry from April 1 through August 31 of every year, unless the cilantro is offered for entry from a firm listed on the Green List of this import alert," according to the alert.
- The crops are shown to have possibly been contaminated by human feces and being handled by hands washed in water sources that contain the cyclospora parasite.
Dive Insight:
In 2014, as part of an ongoing investigation, FDA increased its sampling of cilantro at the Mexican border. "That investigation took FDA inspectors and their Mexican counterparts to 11 cilantro growing and packing operations in Puebla, Mexico, from 2013 through this season, according to the import alert. Five of the operations were linked by traceback to cyclospora illnesses in the U.S.," according to The Packer.
Food safety concerns about crops and products imported from other countries are one of the principle points debated in trade pacts, as food safety standards can differ widely.
This one of the aspects being discussed in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, which currently involves the U.S., Canada, and 10 other Asia-Pacific countries and which could have a significant impact on the food industry if passed. To fast-track the TPP through Congress to the president, the House recently passed The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, known as the TPA.