Schools are the main providers of breakfast and lunch for many students across the nation. And with an outbreak of a parasite found in fresh produce causing illness in dozens of states, students’ health could be at risk eating from school cafeterias.
The United States has seen cases of cyclosporiasis in the past, but this outbreak is more widespread than normal—over 11,000 cases have been reported across 41 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The parasite, cyclospora, causes symptoms such as nausea, fatigue, bloating, and explosive, watery diarrhea that can last weeks, sometimes months.
Past outbreaks have been linked to people consuming water or foods like raspberries, cabbage, basil, cilantro, parsley, broccoli, snow peas, sugar snap peas, and leafy greens, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
This time, it is unknown what the source of the parasite is, though Taylor Fresh Foods has recalled all of its iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico.
To date, the “diarrhea parasite” has mainly affected communities in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia.
Some school systems are trying to take preventive steps meant to protect students. One district in North Carolina has decided to remove fresh produce from the school cafeteria food menu until September. Schools in that K-12 system, the Durham district, will serve frozen vegetables and canned fruit, the district’s school nutritionists told Education Week.
Education Week spoke with Guy Yehiav, president of SmartSense, a food safety group that works with school systems around the country.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What should schools keep in mind when trying to anticipate and prevent risks during the cyclosporiasis outbreak?
So we need to remember that cyclospora is a parasite that you cannot identify by eye or taste. The thing that scares people the most is the issue with the traceability of it, because it actually starts impacting the body about a week later. And who remembers what they [ate] days ago?
Also, when Taylor Farms raised a flag and said “Hey, we’re recalling our iceberg lettuce,” people would ask themselves, “Did I have five to six days ago iceberg lettuce somewhere?”
Taylor Farms said that they found it, but it could be not just them. Traceability of this parasite is not easy.
What can schools do to protect students during this time?
If you do have to have iceberg lettuce on your menu, schools need to do a certain process to reduce the risk. Take the [outer leaves off, then clean the rest under running cold water with the highest stream setting], and that would reduce it by 90%, based on what I’ve read and learned.
Number two: If there was no contamination found, [but you want to give students lettuce], find [an] alternative.
How about communication to schools?
Message all schools with the procedure on how to minimize risk [and make sure that they’re actually doing it].
So, those are the things: clean, remove or replace the menu items, and then communicate it to all your schools and [make sure they are following those procedures].
What are the other safety steps schools might consider taking to prevent an outbreak?
They should also look at products from a sourcing perspective. Of course, if they’re sourced from Taylor Farms and they found the contamination, discard it or clean it better.
But they need to remember there could be other contamination, because not all production farms try to find and work in collaboration with the food boards to find other contaminants.
Another risk is the mixed-leaf bags because if you mix leaves, you lose some of the traceability. In a mixed bag, you have a higher probability of contamination.
How should districts be thinking about where they get their food from?
If schools can find a single source [for food for their cafeterias that would be better, but they still need to check]. For example, the director of food in San Diego was talking about how they like to find local sources because it’s government-funded, and they want to fund locals.
But a lot of times when the locals didn’t produce enough, they buy it from somewhere else, and so you have that traceability issue.
What about removing fresh produce completely from the menu, and replacing it with canned fruit and frozen vegetables?
That’s very practical. However, this means changing the nutrition for the kids. You should not [ignore] risk on behalf of better nutrition. Canned fruits really are preservatives—not the best nutrition. If you do it for a week or two and source again, and go back to fresh produce, that’s OK.
Nothing happens if you reduce the nutrition for about two to three weeks. But schools need to remember that some of those meals for kids could be the only meal that they have that day.
How should school district leaders and principals communicate with parents about this issue?
First of all, overcommunication is critical. I would communicate at three levels.
Level number one: acknowledgement. Tell parents that the risk is minimal, but it could happen, so schools are taking measures to minimize it.
Then, schools can actually explain what they’re doing. If schools explain what they’re doing, it will also be [understood that families can also] do that at home. Maybe a family is not exposed to the news, TVs, or doctors who will tell them what to do. Maybe they didn’t even hear about this parasite.
Third, talk about what happens if a kid has a soft stomach. The parasite cannot be transmitted between people, so it’s not needed to isolate them. Not every diarrhea is the parasite. But if a student does have the explosive one, notify the school, because if they got it, there may be others, and the school needs to then tell other people.
What other advice would you offer?
The key to freshness is the receiving of the ingredients. And if you can trace it, if you can check it when it arrives, if you know where it’s from, if you think it’s local, check that it’s local. If you think it’s fresh, check that it’s fresh.
School employees should start tracking and tracing temperature and humidity. Make sure that the ingredients that you get into your school are fresh and compliant with the regulations.
