In the middle of a diarrhea shitstorm, the Food and Drug Administration and lettuce supplier Taylor Farms appear to be facing off in a passive aggressive battle of technicalities.
On July 17, the California-based company issued a voluntary recall on iceberg lettuce sourced from Central Mexico. The recall came after people across at least five states were sickened with cyclosporiasis, a parasitic infection that causes explosive diarrhea.
The next day, the FDA said that it had detected the parasite in a sample of Taylor Farms lettuce that wasn’t part of the initial recall. The day after that, the company and the FDA said that the result was actually a false positive.
“Today, the FDA apologized to us,” Taylor Farms then posted on its X account on July 19.
The FDA did not quite agree with that interpretation, however. On July 20, an agency official told reporters that it did not offer the company an “official apology.” Instead, the official said, “mostly we were providing factual information” about how difficult it is to test for and trace the sources of cyclospora outbreaks.
The agency emphasized that the recall—which spans 27 states, and includes certain lettuce sold to Taco Bell and Walmart—still stands. “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 elides the difficulties involved in accurately testing for the parasite.
Many foodborne illness investigators determine the source of outbreaks without ever testing products. Instead, investigators use epidemiological evidence, such as interviewing people who have tested positive, to determine commonalities.
Taylor Farms has reportedly taken issue with how the FDA and CDC has conducted their weeks-long investigation into the source of the outbreak. A spokesperson told The New York Times that, last week, the company met with White House and FDA officials to discuss what it called “shortfalls” in the government organizations’ response processes. The Times reported that Taylor Farms executives attempted to cast doubt on the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s conclusions in the meeting, which took place on July 16, the day before Taylor Farms issued its recall.
Taylor Farms did not respond to WIRED’s requests for comment.
Since May, thousands of people have been sickened with cyclosporasis, as health officials have struggled to pinpoint the source of the outbreak. Authorities in Michigan say that they have counted 6,148 cases in that state alone, though experts previously told WIRED that the number of cases nationwide is likely higher than what’s been reported.
