The FDA Says It Did Not ‘Officially Apologize’ to Taylor Farms

Confusion swirled around the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak on Monday after the produce supplier linked to the illness pushed back against the Food and Drug Administration.

FDA officials said in a press call on Monday that its investigation still points to Taylor Farms’ iceberg lettuce as the source of the outbreak, despite the company claiming the agency apologized to it for announcing a false positive result on a test for cyclospora in Taylor Farms’ lettuce.

“We did not offer an official apology, but did explain factually the issues,” an FDA official said.

Taylor Farms, a multinational produce behemoth, was implicated in the outbreak of the diarrhea-causing parasite after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traced reports of illness back to Taylor Farms de Mexico lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in five states. The supplier put out a voluntary recall for iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico on Friday, including bagged salad mixes sold in grocery stores.

Over the weekend, the FDA announced — and then retracted — the news that a sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms had tested positive for cyclospora. That test was a false positive, meaning the agency has not found any “confirmed positive sample results for product testing of Cyclospora,” the FDA said in a statement.

Taylor Farms responded on social media late Sunday, saying the FDA had apologized to the company.

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Many on social media took this to mean that Taylor Farms’ iceberg lettuce was no longer implicated in the outbreak at all.

But the false positive did nothing to change the “overwhelming epidemiological data” that supported a recall of shredded lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico, the FDA said on social media. The agency “factually explained the issues” that led to the false positive test result to Taylor Farms, an FDA official said Monday.

None of the back-and-forth did much to reassure the public, some of whom questioned on social media whether they could trust any of the parties involved — the FDA, the administration, Taylor Farms, lettuce. Nor did the news that representatives from the company met with White House and FDA officials.

A spokesperson from Taylor Farms told The New York Times that its meeting with Trump administration officials was to discuss “shortfalls in the F.D.A. and C.D.C.’s outbreak response process.”

In response to one post from liberal media company MeidasTouch pointing to the ties between Taylor Farms and the Trump administration, an account for the Department of Health and Human Services wrote on X, “This is how the FAKE NEWS works: imply collusion, ignore the facts. Nothing influences our decisions except science and the safety of the American people.”