Today in No Sh-t, Sherlock News: a former FDA official says that the cyclospora outbreak “is starting to approach a catastrophic level in terms of how mismanaged it’s been on multiple fronts.” No duh. Still, Frank Yiannas is qualified to make these claims, as his role with the FDA was deputy commissioner for food policy and response, a position he held from 2018 to 2023 (so under both Trump and Biden). Yiannas also condemned federal authorities for mixed messaging leading to public confusion (see: FDA confirming Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce had tested positive for cyclospora, then retracting it as a “false positive” a day later amid a rancid cloud of political pressure). So in the name of health, science, and ensuring this infectious incompetency doesn’t happen again, Yiannis is calling for an independent review of the federal government’s response to the outbreak. Under this administration, I think Yiannis has a greater chance of coming down with cyclosporiasis than getting an independent review, but bless his heart.
“My point is not to find fault, but to find facts on how we can further strengthen the system,” Yiannas told POLITICO. “It’s not being critical of any particular agency, but it is being critical of the system. In some respects, I think there’s been some dismantling of the system.”
Yiannas’ call for an independent review of the government’s response adds to pressure facing the FDA since the agency scrambled to do damage control this week after announcing a positive lab test linked a new batch of Taylor Farms lettuce to the outbreak — only to reverse course to say final test results contradicted the initial finding.
Such a review could be conducted through congressional oversight, an independent inspector or through the appointment of an expert panel, Yiannas said. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The false positive test announced July 19 did not change the focus of the FDA’s investigation or the ongoing recall, and the agency says it has strong evidence that implicates certain Taylor Farms lettuce products as a source of the outbreak. But the backtracking fueled online speculation that the FDA’s decision was a politically motivated effort to exonerate Taylor Farms.
The company’s messaging added to public confusion when it claimed the FDA had “apologized” for the false positive test — a claim the FDA later denied to reporters.
Yiannas, who has also served as a vice president for food safety at Walmart, also urged the FDA to provide more information about how it made the mistake of releasing a false positive test result, a misstep he said was “extremely rare.”
“They just went too fast and they made a mistake,” he said. “They should share more about how and why it happened and what they’ll do to prevent it in the future.”
Yiannas’ comments come as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that an outbreak of cyclospora illnesses in four more states have links to some Taylor Farms lettuces. The company is continuing to work with public health authorities as well as farmers and customers “to address the issue,” Taylor Farms said in a statement.
The FDA is also investigating six separate clusters of cyclospora illnesses, but except for the ongoing multistate outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce, the agency has not identified a source.
“In some respects, I think there’s been some dismantling of the system.” Not in “some” respects, Mr. Yiannis, but in all respects. As soon as he got his dead-animal-stained hands on the Health Secretary title, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. immediately set about decimating our national health agencies. And where RFK didn’t strike, Musk and his DOGE boys did, slashing the CDC’s dedicated cyclospora team from 11 people to just three. This summer’s outsized cyclospora outbreak is a direct result of the administration’s acts. I fear, though, that the delay in cause and effect gives them an opportunity to eschew responsibility. I mean, we sensible people get the undeniable correlation, but the malevolent goons in office will con their devotees with what they see as plausible deniability. Countdown to Trump rage-briefing: “Biden’s TERRIBLE immigration policies let in this Very Very BAD lettuce!”
So far, the CDC has only confirmed 4,000 cyclosporiasis cases, while states have reported an additional 7,400. Thank you to all the state and local health officials for doing the traceback work that federal agencies can’t adequately keep up with right now. As CB suggested, it’s a great time to buy produce from local farmer’s markets. Stay safe everyone!
Note by CB: If you need to buy lettuce at the grocery store, Little Leaf lettuce and Bright Farms lettuce both have several Instagram posts showing the safety and water filtration measures they use.
Photos are screenshots from YouTube/CBS, via Instagram and credit Getty