A voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce distributed across 27 states has been launched after federal health officials traced an explosive diarrhea parasite to produce supplied from central Mexico.
According to Breitbart, the recall has already triggered a wave of litigation and a predictable round of partisan blame-shifting, with some Democrats rushing to fault President Donald Trump rather than the foreign supply chain actually identified by investigators. The lettuce, processed and distributed by Taylor Farms in California, is at the center of several federal lawsuits targeting Taco Bell, which allegedly served shredded lettuce tainted with the parasite cyclospora.
No deaths have been reported, but the outbreak has sickened well over a thousand Americans and exposed once again the vulnerabilities created when the United States relies heavily on imported food.
Democrats have seized on the incident to attack the Trump administration, even as federal agencies have traced the contamination to a single supplier in Mexico rather than to any domestic regulatory failure. Of course, like most any negative condition that makes headlines and impacts Americans, the problem was caused by Trump, according to a Democrat lawmaker and another who is running for Congress.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) posted a video Saturday on social media claiming the worst outbreak in U.S. history was caused by the president taking a wrecking ball to our public health infrastructure, despite the fact that the contaminated lettuce originated in Mexico, not in U.S. fields or processing plants. Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for Senate in the Michigan Democrat primary, implied on Friday that the administration was at fault for the abnormally shitty couple of months in the state caused by both the outbreak and bad air quality from Canadian wildfires.
El-Sayed went further, blaming the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Trumps Food and Drug Administration for the parasite outbreak, and oil companies for the wildfires, presumably through global warming. His comments reflect a broader progressive instinct to politicize public health issues and environmental events, rather than focusing on the concrete failures of foreign suppliers and the need for stricter oversight of imported produce.
Earlier this week, the CDC linked the cyclospora problem to lettuce from a single supplier in Mexico, with the parasite causing at least 1,600 people to become sick this year, the Hill reported. The distributor, Taylor Farms de Mexico of Guanajuato, Mexico, announced Friday that it is recalling 25 shredded lettuce and salad mix products sourced from the contaminated lot in central Mexico, adding that it also stopped purchasing lettuce from that source.
Taylor Farms emphasized that it is working with federal and state authorities to remove the affected products from circulation and to prevent further illnesses. We are actively removing the implicated products, Taylor Farms said in a statement. The company has stopped receiving product from the implicated lot, suspended distribution of the iceberg lettuce from Central Mexico, notified our customers, and we are continuing to work with the FDA, CDC, and state authorities.
The company also issued detailed guidance to consumers, urging immediate disposal of any recalled items and offering refunds. It stated: Consumers who have purchased the recalled iceberg lettuce should discard it immediately and not consume it. Full refunds are also available at the location of purchase. Consumers experiencing health issues should contact their physician. Consumers with any questions may contact our customer care team at 855-455-0098 Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm PST.
The recall affects iceberg lettuce and salad mixes distributed in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Taylor Farms recall covers products sold under eight different brand codes that were shipped as recently as Thursday and carry best by dates through August 3.
A full list of affected products is available in the Taylor Farms statement posted online, allowing consumers and retailers to verify whether their purchases are included. The CDC has confirmed at least 1,645 cases of cyclospora infections and 141 hospitalizations. Cases have been identified in 34 states, with Michigan reporting the largest number of confirmed illnesses, the Hill reported.
Cyclospora spreads through food or water that has typically been contaminated with feces, and it most often becomes a threat when fresh produce is washed with tainted water in countries with weaker sanitation standards. The outbreak underscores the importance of rigorous inspection of imported foods and raises serious questions about why some politicians are more interested in scoring partisan points than in demanding accountability from foreign suppliers and strengthening Americas own border and food safety controls.
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