Warren demands answers from Kennedy over cyclosporiasis outbreak

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services, seeking information about the federal response to the largest cyclosporiasis outbreak in U.S. history, ABC7 Bay Area reported on Friday. In the letter, Warren called the response "calamitous" and wrote that the outbreak and "botched response may be the result of incompetence and corruption". ABC7 Bay Area reported that the CDC had recorded at least 24,000 confirmed or suspected cases across 47 states, with two deaths and at least 740 hospitalizations.

Warren's letter pointed to a $1 million donation that Taylor Fresh Foods, Inc., which owns Taylor Farms, gave during March 2025 to MAGA Inc., a PAC aligned with Trump, according to Federal Election Commission records cited by ABC7 Bay Area. The letter also cited a story in The Wall Street Journal describing how lobbyists for Taylor Farms asked the White House for more time and proof before federal agencies implicated the company.

The CDC earlier reported more than 11,500 cases in 41 states, including 4,173 laboratory-confirmed cases and 308 hospitalizations, ABC News reported. The agency noted a six-week reporting lag, indicating case counts would likely rise. Recalled iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms has been linked by FDA investigators to close to 10,000 illnesses in 17 states, according to ABC7 Bay Area.

Health officials linked some early illnesses to lettuce that had been shredded for use at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia, ABC News reported. A recall was issued voluntarily by Taylor Farms de Mexico for every head of iceberg lettuce that came from central Mexico, affecting 27 states after the product was distributed from June 29 through July 16. Taco Bell said it stopped using lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico. ABC7 Bay Area, citing a person with knowledge of the matter, reported that on July 14, the FDA reached out to Taylor Farms, but the company was not available until July 15 and did not meet the agency's 24-hour timeline for deciding on voluntary action. The FDA said a sample initially tested positive for the parasite but later determined the result was a false positive; acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas said the false positive did not change the agency's finding that cases were linked to Taylor Farms lettuce.

Kennedy told ABC News on Tuesday that the outbreak is "under control". He said the government and involved companies had implemented a recall. Warren asserted in her letter that Taco Bell "provided earlier and seemingly clearer guidance to consumers than the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), CDC, and other federal food safety agencies".

A spokesperson for Taylor Fresh Foods told ABC7 Bay Area the company "acts in the interest of science and consumer health, not politics". The spokesperson said the company categorically rejects suggestions of favorable regulatory treatment and supports the Food Traceability Rule.

That five-month outbreak was declared over on 11 September, according to News Decoder. Former food safety officials told the outlet that cuts by the Trump administration weakened an already strained food safety system. Susan Mayne, a former head of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said the Taylor Farms facility suspected in the incident had gone without an inspection for six years.