Markets: With oil prices volatile after a weekend of escalation between the US and Iran, stocks fell yesterday like the lip balm that didn’t quite make it all the way back into your pocket. Google, which is among the Big Tech companies reporting earnings this week, rose amid reports that it’s developing a new AI chip.

EXPLOSIVE (DIARRHEA) UPDATES

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The FDA said “lettuce get this right.” The agency retracted its claim that it had found the sickness-causing cyclospora parasite in a sample of Taylor Farms lettuce over the weekend, saying yesterday that the test was a false positive. But don’t go preparing that salad kit in your fridge just yet—the FDA still believes the company’s iceberg lettuce is linked to the multi-state outbreak.

Here’s what we know about the illness’s probable connection between the company whose clients include Walmart, Whole Foods, Costco, Taco Bell, and McDonald’s and the gastrointestinal ailment that’s got Americans straddling toilets in agony:

• Last week, the outbreak of explosive diarrhea (as if there’s any other kind) was linked to shredded lettuce from a single supplier to Taco Bell restaurants in five states.
• On Friday, Taylor Farms issued a voluntary recall of its iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico that was sold between June 29 and July 16 across 27 states. The recall remains in place.
• Despite the false positive, the FDA clarified yesterday that, unlike the Titanic captain, it still considers the iceberg a serious problem. “FDA’s traceback investigation and outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico,” the agency said in a statement.

In its own statement, Taylor Farms said that the FDA “apologized to us” for the false positive, noting that besides the lettuce from Mexico, “all other Taylor Farms products…are not involved in the recall.”

How did the false positive happen?

An expert told the Wall Street Journal that cyclospora is impossible to grow in a lab, making it harder to study and link to a common source because scientists can’t culture more of it to test.

Another scientist interviewed by MarketWatch said the complex nature of the pathogen could have resulted in the test detecting a similar organism.

More cases are likely coming: As of July 15, the FDA said there have been more than 1,600 confirmed cyclospora cases in the US and another 5,100+ it is working to confirm.—DL

      

Reader poll

Sponsored By Cytonics

Osteoarthritis is one of the world’s most common diseases, with over $560 billion spent managing its symptoms each year. But soon, its 500+ million patients* may be able to do more than that.

An emerging biotech company called Cytonics may have discovered what soon could be osteoarthritis’s first potential cure.

They successfully cleared phase 1 clinical trials with a perfect safety profile.** Now, Cytonics is gearing up for the next phase on a version engineered to be 200% more potent.

Potential medical breakthroughs like this are rare. Even rarer? You can invest in Cytonics as they prepare for the next phase.

But the opportunity to invest ends next week. Become a Cytonics shareholder before next week’s deadline.

World

Tour de headlines

Geoff Robins/Getty Images