FDA Retracts Test Linking Taylor Farms to Cyclospora Outbreak

The federal investigation into a multi-state cyclospora outbreak is taking a new turn.

The Food and Drug Administration has retracted an earlier claim that contaminated lettuce supplied by a Taylor Farms grower in Mexico tested positive for the parasite.

The agency now says that test result was a false positive, but Taylor Farms remains part of the ongoing investigation.

The company says the FDA acknowledged the testing error and that it will continue its voluntary lettuce recall as a precaution.

Taylor Farms became a focus of the investigation after multiple people became ill after eating at Taco Bell restaurants in the Midwest that received lettuce from the company.

Agriculture experts say cyclospora is notoriously difficult to detect, making investigations challenging. They add the false positive does not necessarily identify the source of the outbreak, and federal investigators are continuing to search for where the contamination originated.