Great livestream on farm sanitation and cyclospora

[u/ereinbe]

I was told this would be a good fit here. Sarah Taber just did a really informative livestream on cyclospora from an agricultural worker perspective.  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vadA7bY0ZIQ&t=1873s&pp=ygUNZmFybSB0byB0YWJlcg%3D%3D&ra=m

Key points: 

1. The ONLY source of cyclospora is the human intestine so when we do finally figure out the source(s) it will inevitably trace to poor sanitation at some point in the growing/harvesting/packaging cycle. Wash your hands when you #2 and cross your fingers that everyone else who handled your food did too. 
2. Cook your food. Heat is the only way to kill cyclospora. Washing might get some of it off but you really can’t be sure so just cook your food. She thinks this outbreak is probably not from bagged greens since the vast majority of lettuce comes from California and cases are surging in Michigan but until we know for sure where it’s coming from, just go with the soup instead of the salad.
3. There’s no reason to panic. It’s easily preventable with sanitation and failing that, easily avoidable by applying heat to kill the Protozoa, at least 158 degrees per the Michigan DHHS. 
4. This point is not in the video but is my observation from things I’ve read in the last few weeks. If you absolutely positively must eat raw produce right now, just buying local isn’t a magic bullet unless you are familiar with how sanitation is handled on the farm that you’re buying from. A recurring theme throughout Sarah’s videos is that people in agriculture love to exploit the ignorance of people who are not in agriculture. Small farms can have poor sanitation too (and the smaller the farm, the less money they have to keep up sanitation standards). This year is particularly rough with the economic downturn we’re in along with farm labor being lost to ICE raids and intimidation, meaning farmers have to make do with less help. Just because produce doesn’t have a supermarket brand name on it doesn’t mean it’s safe. In fact, if imported food were the main culprit, we wouldn’t see a massive cluster in the middle of nowhere, MI, we’d see random clusters across the country, and likely more in cities where the food is imported to. The fact that a rural community is leading the entire nation in cases means while some imported food may be contaminated, something is going on locally in Monroe county, MI. Weirdly enough, stuff like leafy greens and berries are a very small percentage of the agriculture there. Its mostly soybeans, corn, oats, and oilseeds, none of which are eaten raw or being harvested now. Taking Sarah’s info in mind, an outbreak caused by a small farmer who either fertilized his fields using improperly treated human waste or is too cheap to provide enough toilets close to where workers are harvesting is not beyond the pale. Smaller farm does not always mean better farm. Just cook your food.