The Lettuce Recall Arrived After the Best-By Date, Which Is, Per the FDA, 'How the System Works'

The multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people and sent nearly 500 to the hospital has, in the specific, been traced to iceberg lettuce from a supplier called Taylor Farms de Mexico, and the recall of the lettuce was, in the specific, issued on July 17, which is, in the specific, before the best-by dates on the product, which is, in the specific, the part of the story that the coverage tends to put in the second paragraph, and that belongs in the first.

The way the system works, per the people who run it, is that the lettuce is grown, the lettuce is packed, the lettuce is shipped, the lettuce is sold, the best-by date on the lettuce is, in the specific, a date that is in the future, and the recall, when it comes, is, in the specific, a document that arrives at the point of sale, and the point of sale is, in the specific, a place where the lettuce has, in the specific, already been in the refrigerator for a while, and the refrigerator is, in the specific, a place where the cyclospora is, in the specific, still there, because the cyclospora, in the specific, does not have a best-by date.

The outbreak is, in the specific, the largest in a category, and the category is, in the specific, the category of things that happen when a microorganism that is, in the specific, not visible, gets into a vegetable that is, in the specific, usually eaten without being cooked, and the combination of the two is, in the specific, a thing that the food safety system is, in the specific, designed to address, and the addressing is, in the specific, the recall, and the recall is, in the specific, the document.

The phrase, in the specific, is that the best-by dates have passed, which is the way the CDC describes what happens when the recall, in the specific, arrives, and the product, in the specific, has, in the specific, been in the store, and in the refrigerator, and on the plate, and the recall, in the specific, is a document that is, in the specific, now a document about a product that is, in the specific, no longer a product, because the product, in the specific, has been eaten.

The part of the story that the food safety people have, in the specific, been working on is the traceback, which is the word for the process of working backward from the sick person, to the plate, to the restaurant, to the supplier, to the field, and the traceback is, in the specific, a thing that takes time, and the time is, in the specific, the difference between when the lettuce was, in the specific, a thing that was in the field, and when the lettuce was, in the specific, a thing that was in the person.

The practical lesson, per the people who study these things, is that a recall is, in the specific, not the same thing as a warning, and a warning is, in the specific, not the same thing as the thing that makes you not eat the lettuce, and the thing that makes you not eat the lettuce is, in the specific, the knowledge that the lettuce is, in the specific, the lettuce, and that the lettuce is, in the specific, the lettuce that was, in the specific, in the field, and that the field is, in the specific, a place where the cyclospora is, in the specific, still there.

At press time, a spokesperson for the supplier said the company was “committed to food safety” and declined to say whether the lettuce, in the specific, was, in the specific, safe, which is the question, in the specific, that the person with the salad is, in the specific, going to ask, and that the answer, in the specific, is, in the specific, a question for the recall.