US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr declared the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak “under control” following the FDA’s reversal of a widespread lettuce recall. The agency had initially issued a recall affecting 27 states for shredded iceberg lettuce but reversed course, characterizing the initial determination as a “false positive” after retesting products from Taylor Farms.
The outbreak has spread across 34 states this summer, with the Midwest experiencing particularly high case counts. The CDC reported more than 1,600 confirmed cases and 5,100 pending cases as of last week, though individual state reports suggest substantially higher numbers. Michigan alone reported over 6,571 cases as of Tuesday. Health officials have indicated the outbreak may represent the largest cyclosporiasis outbreak ever documented in the United States, with cases expected to continue rising through August due to the parasite’s incubation period.
Experts have characterized the outbreak response as slow. The Trump administration implemented significant reductions to food safety infrastructure, including cuts to the FoodNet surveillance program, elimination of $11.4 billion in pandemic-era grants to state and local health departments, workforce reductions at the CDC including roughly one-quarter of its total staff, and downsizing of a federal lab dedicated to parasitic outbreak detection from 11 staffers to three. Kennedy defended the surveillance cuts, stating they targeted redundant systems while maintaining forensic and epidemiological capacity.
The cyclospora parasite thrives in warm temperatures and spreads through contaminated water and food. The FDA initiated the lettuce recall following reports of cases at Taco Bell locations in five states, which then expanded nationally before being reversed. Kennedy stated that identification of the outbreak source would enable people to make informed food choices going forward.