FDA delays food traceability rule, CDC ends FoodNet before Taylor Farms cyclospora outbreak

Traceability rule compliance date extended to 2028; FoodNet made optional in 2025

On March 20, the Food and Drug Administration announced it was extending the compliance date for its Food Traceability Final Rule by 30 months. The rule, which the agency said would allow “for faster identification and removal of potentially contaminated food from the market, resulting in fewer foodborne illnesses and deaths,” was originally scheduled to take effect on Jan. 20. The delay means the requirements will not be enforced until 2028.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ended its Foodborne Disease Active Surveillance Network program, known as FoodNet. The joint effort between the CDC, the FDA, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture tracked infections from eight pathogens, including Cyclospora, salmonella, and E. coli. In July 2025, the federal government made FoodNet participation optional for states; previously, surveillance of the eight pathogens had been mandatory.

Taylor Farms Inc., the company that has emerged as the likely source of the outbreak, donated $1 million to MAGA Inc., a political action committee that supports President Donald Trump, six days after the FDA announced the traceability rule delay, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission. The Department of Health and Human Services denied that political contributions influence its decisions. “Nothing influences our decisions except science and the safety of the American people,” HHS Rapid Response posted on social media on July 20, responding to Meidas Touch, a liberal-leaning media company, which had raised the connection.

The cyclospora outbreak has now spread to nine Midwestern and Eastern states. Of the infected individuals, 1,947 reported eating at Taco Bell, which sources its iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, according to the CDC. On July 18, the FDA reported that a sample provided by Taylor Farms tested positive for Cyclospora, then issued an update the following day saying the result “should be considered a false positive.” Taylor Farms highlighted the retraction, posting on social media that the FDA “apologized” for linking the infection to the company. However, the FDA further clarified on July 20 that the false-positive lab sample “does not change the basis of FDA’s ongoing outbreak investigation or the overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the current voluntary recall by Taylor Farms.”

Last week Taylor Farms announced it was removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from store shelves. “Acting on initial information provided by public health officials, in an abundance of caution, we completed a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce from central Mexico,” the company said.

Sarah Sorscher, director of regulatory affairs with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told UPI that the federal decisions to cut funding, research, and tracking capabilities have made responding to outbreaks more difficult. “Right now we still don’t have great methods for genetic testing to determine related strains of cyclospora,” she said. “This means it’s harder to tell when two people got sick from eating cyclospora from the same source.”

The number of infections is likely much higher than the reported tally, Sorscher noted, because many people who fall ill do not seek medical attention or provide a stool sample, and healthcare providers may not order the specific test for cyclosporiasis, which has historically been rare. Testing has increased during the outbreak, she said, and diagnostic tools have improved. “Detection was done under a microscope, visually looking at oocysts that are small and shed in low numbers. Essentially we’re seeing it more because we’re looking for it more often with better tools,” she said.

Sorscher also pointed to broader factors. She said climate change may be contributing to the rise in cyclospora cases by creating more favorable environmental conditions for the parasite. The cyclospora outbreak has been closely preceded by another rare outbreak: the New World screwworm, a parasite that had been considered eradicated in the United States for nearly 60 years before spreading through Central America and reaching Texas earlier this summer. The twin outbreaks are not directly linked, but Sorscher described them as “cumulative symptoms of the erosion of public health policy in the United States.”

“If our public health system were operating at full capacity, we could have caught the outbreak when it was smaller, before it made so many thousands of people sick,” she said. She urged lawmakers to “fund public health properly,” including rejecting the Trump administration’s proposed 40% cut to the CDC’s budget. “Right now we only spend $74 million on food safety surveillance, and adequate funding would look closer to $154 to $174 million,” she said.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during a press conference Tuesday that the outbreak is “under control.” The CDC said Friday it continues to investigate the outbreak linked to Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce.