Trump Health Secretary RFK Jr. claims the cyclospora outbreak is ‘under control’ and that it’s ‘invalid’ to blame the short-sighted Trump cuts to key CDC and FDA safety nets for the administration’s bumbling, delayed response to the crisis. Turns out he’s full of it.
- SHOT: USA Today, 7.21: RFK Jr. says cyclosporiasis ‘under control,’ rebukes criticisms
- CHASER: Axios, 7.23: Cyclosporiasis rates rise in five outbreak states : Cases of cyclosporiasis have now been reported in at least 41 states, and infection rates continue to increase in the five states where the CDC has declared an outbreak. The big picture: Although some cases of the diarrhea-inducing illness are reported each year, the outbreak will make 2026 the worst year on U.S. record for this food-borne parasitic infection. […] The CDC also notes that it’s aware of at least 7,400 cases — many from Michigan and Ohio — that have not yet been lab-confirmed.
- LIME: CBS News, 7.26: How Trump admin cuts have compromised food safety
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Susan Mayne, an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Public Health, who ran the food-safety department of the Food and Drug Administration from 2015 to 2023. “This is just an astonishingly large outbreak, record-setting outbreak.” […]
[D]uring President Trump’s second term, the FDA has lost about 20% of its staff; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is down 25%. The CDC used to have 11 scientists tracking food parasites; now it’s three.
“We had a national advisory committee, a committee that advised FDA and USDA on how to prevent microbial contamination in food,” said Mayne. “That advisory committee was disbanded. We used to convene meetings with our Mexican counterparts on how we can work together to improve food safety. That entire team was let go.”
And then there’s FoodNet, a joint venture of the FDA, the CDC, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture that provided an early-warning surveillance program that used to track eight particularly nasty microbes. But now, it tracks only two – and cyclospora is not one of them.
For three decades, the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), a collaboration among the CDC, FDA, USDA, and 10 state health departments, conducted surveillance for eight pathogens (including cyclospora). Since July 1, 2025, reporting on pathogens other than salmonella and e-coli has been made optional.
In 2011, Congress passed a food-safety bill that included a Traceability Rule. It said that any food-related company must keep detailed supply-chain records for vulnerable ingredients, all the way from the fields to the store. It was supposed to take effect this year. “I can tell you, having seen lettuce tracebacks, that would’ve been incredibly helpful,” said Mayne.
But the rule has been delayed until 2028. So, if there is a cyclospora outbreak next year, we still won’t be able to trace it? “That’s correct,” replied Mayne. “Unless Congress or somebody else intervenes in the interim.”
This past week, Health and Human Services director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters that criticisms of the administration’s food safety programs were “invalid.”
“We’ve had no cuts in our surveillance program,” Kennedy said. “We did cuts in the FoodNet program, but they were for redundant surveillance.”
But Mayne says, “No, it’s not accurate. I mean, clearly there have been cuts.”
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