Canada does not plan to impose restrictions or a ban on fresh produce imports from the United States following a cyclosporiasis outbreak, according to Canada’s CFIA. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it is not considering limiting U.S. produce at this time. Canada’s public health and food-safety agencies are monitoring the situation, but the Public Health Agency of Canada says it is not investigating any outbreaks of cyclospora within Canada.
The U.S. outbreak has been associated with a diarrhea-causing parasite, cyclospora. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Tuesday indicates that, since May, nearly 7,000 people may have been sickened across multiple states. Despite the scale of cases reported in the U.S., Canadian officials state that there is no current basis for import restrictions based on the information available to them.
Overall, the reporting from Canadian outlets centers on the same message: the CFIA is not moving toward bans or other import controls, and Canadian public health authorities are not conducting a domestic investigation of cyclospora outbreaks.
