The number of cases linked to the cyclosporiasis outbreak in the United States continues to rise – linked primarily to bagged salad mixes and kits, fresh cilantro, basil, raspberries, snow peas and green onion.

Sylvain Charlebois of Dalhousie’s Food Analytics Lab says cyclospora is a parasite and is difficult to wash off the surface of some foods.

“It will stay on there resiliently. And you don’t cook your lettuce or fine herbs often, so cyclospora is pretty dangerous, so right now we have thousands of victims.”

No cases have yet been confirmed by the Public Health Agency in Canada, but production facilities might be affected by the ongoing investigation.

The US outbreak is leading to concerns about the availability of some items and the impact on prices in this country.

Charlebois says the real factor affecting food prices in Canada right now is the low Canadian dollar.

“The Canadian dollar is not all that strong, it’s worth about .70 or .71 cents U.S. It’s lower than last year. That’s probably a larger factor right now than what’s going on with cyclospora.”