FDA bans some Mexican cilantro after feces

Guacamole fans, beware: the FDA has banned the import of a few fresh cilantro from Mexico after evidence showed the crop could be tainted with human feces.

“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. All cilantro from anywhere else in Mexico must be transported with documentation proving its origination. At eight, health officials found bathrooms without soap, toilet paper or running water, in addition to the human feces and toilet paper in growing fields.

The restaurant chain Chipotle doesn’t use cilantro from Puebla, a spokesman told The Post in an e-mail. Some had a complete lack of toilet facilities.

Those who have purchased cilantro from Mexico are advised to wash the herb. Cooking it will kill the parasite.

Last year, Texas had 200 cases, a few of which were associated with cilantro from the Puebla region. The Texas Department of State Health Services has received reports of 205 cyclosporiasis cases this year. No deaths were reported, though seven people were hospitalized, as stated by the CDC.

The FDA implemented increased sampling of cilantro at the Mexican border in August 2014 as part of an ongoing investigation.

From 2013 to 2015, FDA, SENASICA, and COFEPRIS inspected 11 farms and packing houses that produce cilantro in the state of Puebla, 5 of them linked to the US C. cayetanensis illnesses, and observed objectionable conditions at 8 of them, including all five of the firms linked through traceback to the U.S. illnesses.

An intestinal parasite outbreak that has been causing illness all across the state of Texas may have been caused by cilantro from the Puebla area of Mexico. That will help, but Congress also must give FDA the resources it needs to do the inspections that are necessary to stop allowing food grown in disgusting conditions like those found in Mexico from making its way onto American dinner plates.