The Lettuce That Launched a Thousand Headlines

As you’ve heard by now, cyclosporiasis is a nasty bug.

A parasite called cyclospora that spreads in fecal-contaminated water and food causes—in the words of the Cleveland Clinic—“watery, and sometimes explosive, diarrhea and other stomach problems.”

As you’ve also heard, the United States is having a major cyclosporiasis outbreak, with over 10,000 confirmed and probable cases, centered largely in Michigan and Ohio. (Go Big Ten!) A privately held, California-based produce company called Taylor Farms, which has over $7 billion in annual sales and 25,000 workers, appears to be the center of the outbreak, which is suspected to have started with lettuce imported from Mexico.

Now, naturally, legacy reporters are doing everything they can to connect this outbreak to their favorite colostomy bags: President Trump and his secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Trump’s CDC cuts fueled a cyclospora perfect storm,” CNN reported on Monday, joining a slew of similar headlines.

But, as is so often the case, the legacy media narrative turns out to be full of watery (and sometimes explosive) reporting. Problems with American food safety, including outbreaks from contaminated meat and produce, long predate the current administration.