News and Stories

At this time, this update does not apply to any Markon First Crop, Ready-Set-Serve, or Markon Essentials products. 

Markon is closely monitoring cyclosporiasis outbreak investigations being conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), State and Local Health Departments, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As of September 27, 2017, a total of 1,054 ill persons have been laboratory-confirmed to have Cyclospora infection, from 40 states in 2017. At this time the source of the outbreak has not been identified but investigations to determine the source(s) of the illnesses is under way.

What we know:

• At least 592 (56%) of ill persons did not report international travel, likely having acquired the infection inside the United States
  • These 592 cases include ill persons from 36 states:
  • AZ (1), CA (10), CT (23), CO (6), FL (78), GA (13), IA (14), IL (17), IN (4), KS (2), LA (12), MA (14), MD (12), MI (3), MN (13), MO (13), MS (1), MT (2), NC (48), NE (5), NH (4), NJ (19), NM (1), NY (excluding NYC) (15), NYC (32), OH (17), PA (2), RI (2), SC (7), SD (4), TN (4), TX (172), UT (1), VA (9), WA (1), WI (9), and WV (2)
• Reported illnesses began on or after May 1, 2017
• Illnesses that began after August 16, 2017 might not have been reported yet due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill and when the illness is reported
• It is not currently known whether reported cases are related to each other or if they represent one or multiple outbreaks
• At this time, no specific vehicle of interest has been identified
  • Past outbreaks of cyclosporiasis in the U.S. have been associated with consumption of imported fresh produce, including fresh cilantro, pre-packaged salad mix, raspberries, basil, snow peas, and mesclun lettuce

For more in depth information about Cyclospora, and details on this ongoing investigation, please refer to the CDC Website

Markon will continue to update members when more information becomes available.

Angie Ramirez

Food Safety Supervisor

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