Guacamole Lovers, Beware: Fresh Cilantro Imports Banned After FDA Finds Possible Feces Contamination
There are a lot of different things that people put in their guacamole: hot sauce, lemon juice, cilantro, tomatoes, peas. But there’s one ingredient that is even more disgusting than peas that might be found in your next bowl of guacamole: poop. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that it has banned some Mexican cilantro over the fear that the product may be tainted with human fecal matter.
The Mexican state of Puebla has been barred from importing cilantro into the U.S. through the end of August, as the FDA has found that the farms and packing houses of the state are in “objectionable conditions.” They also found that some fields lacked toilet paper, running water, no soap, and more, while some didn’t have bathrooms at all. The health officials also stated in an alert that they had found fields with human fecal matter and toilet paper in them.
“Based on those joint investigations, FDA considers that the most likely routes of contamination of fresh cilantro are contact with the parasite shed from the intestinal tract of humans affecting the growing fields, harvesting, processing or packing activities, or contamination with the parasite through contaminated irrigation water, contaminated crop protectant sprays, or contaminated wash waters,” the alert said.
The cilantro has been linked to outbreaks of cyclosporiasis, which affected 304 people in the U.S. last year. The parasitic illness can lead to diarrhea and explosive bowel movements. The outbreak affected 19 states, with Texas suffering the most, reporting 64 percent of the illnesses.
The Puebla cilantro hasn’t had a good track record in the last couple years. Last year, the FDA increased sampling of Puebla farms cilantro, while Texas health officials investigated a separate cyclosporiasis outbreak that may also be linked to Puebla. In 2013, another cyclosporiasis outbreak affected 25 states and was also linked to the Puebla cilantro.
As for your favorite restaurants that serve cilantro in their meals, Chipotle and Taco Bell both told Bloomberg Business that they do not get their cilantro from Mexico; they get it from California. According to the FDA, the ban will affect cilantro imports from Puebla from April through August for the next couple of years.