The nation's largest recent cyclospora outbreak has put one of America's biggest produce suppliers under renewed scrutiny.
Food safety experts say that while recalls are inevitable for a produce supplier the size of Taylor Farms, the current outbreak is unusual because of its scale and the number of people sickened. of roughly 200 to 1,000 cases.
Because cyclospora infections can cause severe diarrhea lasting days or even weeks, some consumers are avoiding leafy greens and other fresh produce commonly associated with the parasite while investigators search for the source.
"Nothing about this outbreak is typical," Jennifer McEntire, founder of food safety consulting firm Food Safety Strategy, told CBS News. "When you see something of this magnitude, it's surprising, even to those of us who are accustomed to working with outbreaks. This is not normal, and it's not acceptable.
"Taylor Farms, founded by CEO Bruce Taylor in 1995 in Salinas Valley, California, manages a network of dozens of production facilities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Western Europe. It grows one-quarter of its own produce and partners with family-owned farms to supply the rest, the company The company, which employs 25,000 people, booked $6 billion in revenue in 2022, according to the most recent data available, ranking it among the largest produce suppliers in the U.S. Its sheer size positions it as a key supplier of lettuce and other produce to the nation's biggest retailers, including Walmart, Costco, Target and Whole Foods, and restaurant chains Taco Bell and McDonald's.
The company also owns the organic brand Earthbound Farms, and produces 40% of the salad kits sold in the U.S. Consumers may mistake Taylor Farms for a small single-farm operation based on its name alone, McEntire said.
"But it's not. It's an enormous company with multiple processing operations and growing locations in different regions," she said. potentially affected iceberg lettuce from central Mexico, after federal investigators established a link between lettuce served at some Taco Bell restaurants and Taylor Farms de Mexico. The company's other products, including its salad kits, have not been recalled.
The company said that the FDA had identified a single independent farm, accounting for less than 1% of the U.S.'s iceberg lettuce supply, as the potential source of the outbreak. that the"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.
" The agency added that its"traceback investigation and outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico. " The false positive"doesn't call into question the conclusion of the outbreak investigation," McEntire said. Had the positive test been confirmed,"it could've resulted in a substantially expanded recall.
" to publicly walk back test results, such false positives are"ordinary as a laboratory event. " Testing for the cyclospora parasite is also more complicated than for other pathogens, such as E. coli or Salmonella, McEntire said. "The unusual thing isn't the false positive. It's that an unconfirmed single-sample result went public on a Saturday and was withdrawn on a Sunday," Dr. Gounder said.
"The question I'd ask FDA is not 'how did the lab get it wrong' but 'what is your policy for announcing a presumptive positive before confirmatory testing closes, and did you follow it? '" The FDA did not immediately respond to CBS News' inquiry about the state of the investigation, or immediately indicate what its protocol is for announcing test results. Taylor Farms has been connected to several previous food safety investigations and recalls.
In 2024, Taylor Farms supplied slivered onions served on McDonald's Quarter Pounders that were contaminated with E. coli, leading to one death and more than 100 illnesses, In 2013, Taylor Farms' salad mixes produced in Guanajuato, Mexico, and supplied to Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants were also Foot traffic at Taco Bell restaurants across the U.S. was down by 19% on Friday compared to the average number of visits on a Friday for the rest of the year, according to R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai, a location analytics firm measuring foot traffic at retailers and restaurants.
A brand that has suffered a food safety incident can recover from reputational damage if it's transparent with the public, experts told CBS News.
"They got out ahead of the story. They didn't wait for the FDA or the CDC, and that's good," Sandra Eskin, the CEO of Stop Foodborne Illness and the former deputy undersecretary of food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told CBS News. The full impact of the outbreak on the reputations of Taylor Farms, Taco Bell and other stakeholders won't be known for some time.
"There is still a lot of uncertainty, and we don't have full clarity. We will have to wait to determine just what happened and who is at fault to be able to say which brand will be hit the hardest," Hottovy said.
Please follow us on Google to support usUnited States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News: You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Taylor Farms recalls lettuce shipped to 27 states over cyclospora riskTaylor Farms has expanded a voluntary recall of its iceberg lettuce products sourced from central Mexico because of a potential link to the multistate cyclospora outbreak that has sickened people across the U.S.
Read more »
Taylor Farms recalls lettuce shipped to 27 states over cyclospora riskProducts with the potential to be contaminated with the diarrhea-causing parasite were shipped to 27 states including Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New Jersey, the California-based company said in a statement Friday.
Read more »
Taylor Farms lettuce sample tests positive for Cyclospora as recall expandsA shredded iceberg lettuce sample from Taylor Farms de Mexico tested positive for the cyclospora parasite as the company expanded its nationwide recall.
Read more »
Taylor Farms recalls lettuce shipped to 27 states over cyclospora riskTaylor Farms has expanded a voluntary recall of its iceberg lettuce products sourced from central Mexico because of a potential link to the multistate cyclospora outbreak that has sickened people across the U.S.
Read more »