Ah, cilantro: soapy scourge of millions of taste buds, a big mystery to the rest of us. And inordinate high salmonella carrier? That's what the Food and Drug Administration is alleging in a letter to the American cilantro industry, in the governmental version of a pimp slap.
]
In a letter sent out last month, FDA official Michael M. Landa told cilantro growers, packers, shippers, and the like that the agency has found 28 instances of salmonella that was either in or about to hit the public markets, enough times to make them “concerned
about positive sample findings for human pathogens in fresh cilantro and
recommends that this produce industry segment take action to enhance
the safety of these products.”
Landa goes on to recommend that all cilantro firms man up and “assess hazards unique to the production of cilantro and to develop
commodity-specific preventive control strategies that would identify
potential hazards that may be specific to fresh cilantro.” It's just an encouragement right now, but you know how the government is about turning an “encouragement” into a “mandate,” and the FDA threaten as such by stating it “intends to take appropriate enforcement action against firms and farms
that distribute adulterated fresh produce or grow or pack fresh produce
under insanitary [Gustavo note: NOT a typo] conditions.”
In the meanwhile, wash that cilantro extra-careful, folks…
