Taylor Farms, the food processor whose salad mix had been linked with an intestinal bug outbreak, has been authorized by United States health regulators to resume operations.
According to Reuters, the Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that the Mexican unit will conduct a program designed to detect Cyclospora on leafy greens and other products from its farms and processing facility.
The facility resumed operations and began shipping salad mix and leafy greens to the U.S. Reuters reported the new program will include sampling products and water and monitoring of sanitary conditions. Cyclospora is the parasite responsible for the outbreak and, according to media reports, affected a few Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants.
Taylor Farms voluntarily halted production of its products to the United States after the pre-packaged salads were linked to Cyclospora, is the parasite responsible for the outbreak. Cyclospora has also affected some Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants, according to previous reports.
According to Huffington Post, at least 535 people in 19 states became ill due to the product. Investigations in Iowa and Nebraska traced the illness to a salad mix supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico to Olive Garden and Red Lobster, restaurant chains owned by Darden Restaurants Inc .
There have been no reports on whether Taylor Farms pre-packaged salads were responsible for the illness in other states. According to the Food and Drug Administration, the last report of an illness was reported on July 2.
Cyclospora is an infection caused by ingesting food or water containing the Cyclospora parasite. Symptoms of the infection include watery diarrhea, vomiting and body aches. It's most common in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.
Taylor Farms is a family-owned company headquartered in Salinas, California and, according to their site, is North America's largest supplier of processed fresh produce to the food service industry.
