Cyclospora: Trump’s FDA shits the bed

Trump’s FDA appears to have shat the bed on the cyclospora outbreak: a major lettuce recall disrupted the food chain, the outbreak kept spreading, and now the agency says its positive product test was wrong.

On July 19, FDA said its lab experts re-reviewed a Taylor Farms de Mexico lettuce sample that had been reported positive the day before and concluded the result “does not represent true amplification” and should be considered a false positive. The agency now says there are no confirmed positive product-testing results for Cyclospora.

This is how you get the worst of both worlds: a disrupted food chain and an outbreak still running around with no lab-confirmed culprit in custody. Taylor Farms pulled iceberg lettuce from central Mexico. Taco Bell pulled lettuce from its supply chain. FDA increased border screening. Then FDA said the one positive product test did not count. The diarrhea continued. The certainty did not.

The FDA is now in the worst possible middle place. It has enough epidemiology to keep pointing at lettuce, enough uncertainty to admit the lab proof was wrong, and enough disruption already unleashed that the nation’s iceberg supply has been treated like a biological suspect with priors. Meanwhile, people are still sick, restaurants are still swapping ingredients, and the parasite continues its little gastrointestinal tour.

Good luck eating, America.