Houston-area woman says she unknowingly ate recalled salad before getting sick

 A Houston-area resident is sharing her experience battling cyclospora earlier this month, hoping her story encourages others to pay closer attention to food recalls.

Sara McGee told Chron she purchased a few bags of H-E-B's Garden Salad Blend a day before a Fourth of July get-together but ended up not putting it out for guests-which in hindsight she admits was a blessing in disguise. 

"Luckily, I was the only one that ate it in my household," she said. 

More than a week after eating the salad, McGee began feeling sick. She later suspected cyclospora after speaking with a family friend who tested positive, though the two did not eat the same food.

"I would say it was along the same lines of when I have a flare up ... like it was nothing. It wasn't the worst thing that's ever happened to me in my life," McGee said. "I wasn't like bedridden or anything. I was just inconvenienced." 

When recalls tied to cyclospora began surfacing, McGee said she remembered the unopened salad still sitting in the back of her refrigerator. Before throwing it away, she photographed the bag and later realized the product code matched those identified in the recall.

"I still had the salad bag when I got sick so I snapped a picture before I tossed it to wait for the official recall to come out," McGee wrote on X. 

Some social media users questioned the timeline.

"WTH the @HEB bag says best if used by July 8th, it's now July 21st.  Did you think salad bags last 13 days after the expiration date? 🤷" one user asked. 

McGee's symptoms aligned with the timeline when she felt sick, "which is generally speaking about a week to 10 days after the exposure with whatever contaminated item it may be," said Dr. Danish Ali, a triple board-certified pain management and rehabilitation specialist.

Dr. Ali added that with patients like McGee, who may be prone to stomach problems, the symptoms are not always instantly noticed. 

"Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Irritable Bowel Disease is often of combination of either from time to time, however, this is different in the sense that it is the extreme form of it, meaning you're having a significant amount of diarrhea that lasts for a long period of time," he said. "But beyond that, your appetite is not there, your ability to replenish is not there, which is not something we typically see with IBS or IBD." 

In the FDA's latest report on cyclospora, Texas was not listed among the five states dangerously impacted by imported lettuce, which the Department of State Health Services confirmed to Chron is because of the number of cases reported. 

"As of July 13, Texas has 68 lab-confirmed cases within this cyclospora season, which runs from May 1 to Aug. 31," Douglas Loveday, with DSHS, told Chron via email. "Case counts in Texas are considered only slightly higher than expected for this time of year, but it is not a drastic increase."

Health experts like Dr. Ali said regardless of the numbers, residents should still take precautions and consult with their doctors. 

"The best thing is make sure that you recognize the symptoms, as they can often be delayed in presenting, so be vigilant and discard any affected lettuce immediately or return it back to the stores," he concluded. "Cyclospora cannot be fully eliminated by just cleaning or using vinegar." 

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