FDA and Taylor Farms Clash Over Apology in Diarrhea Outbreak
The FDA denies offering an official apology to lettuce supplier Taylor Farms after a false-positive test for a parasite causing diarrhea. The company maintains its recall and criticizes the investigation.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and California-based lettuce supplier Taylor Farms are locked in a dispute over whether the agency apologized after a false-positive test for a parasite that causes explosive diarrhea.
On July 17, Taylor Farms issued a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce sourced from Central Mexico after people in at least five states fell ill with cyclosporiasis, a parasitic infection causing severe diarrhea.
The following day, the FDA announced it had detected the parasite in a sample of Taylor Farms lettuce not initially part of the recall. However, a day later, both the company and the FDA said the result was a false positive.
"Today, the FDA apologized to us," Taylor Farms posted on its X account on July 19. But the FDA disagreed with that characterization. On July 20, an agency official told reporters it did not offer an "official apology," but rather "mostly we were providing factual information" about the difficulty of testing for cyclospora outbreaks.
The FDA emphasized that the recall—spanning 27 states and including lettuce sold to Taco Bell and Walmart—remains in effect. "To clarify, this false-positive lab sample DOES NOT change the basis for FDA’s ongoing outbreak investigation or the overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the current voluntary recall by Taylor Farms," it posted on X.
In its July 19 post, Taylor Farms also wrote that the FDA "has not identified a single positive product test result for Cyclospora." While true, this overlooks the challenges of accurate testing. Many foodborne illness investigators determine outbreak sources without testing products, relying instead on epidemiological evidence such as interviews with sick people.
Taylor Farms has reportedly criticized how the FDA and CDC conducted their weeks-long investigation. A spokesperson told The New York Times that the company met with White House and FDA officials last week to discuss what it called "shortfalls" in government response processes. The Times reported that Taylor Farms executives attempted to cast doubt on the agencies' conclusions in the July 16 meeting, the day before the recall.
Since May, thousands of people have been sickened with cyclosporiasis as health officials struggle to find the source. Michigan authorities report 6,148 cases in that state alone, though experts say the national total is likely higher.
