Ex-FDA Chief: Cyclospora Outbreak Exposes Food Safety Cuts
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- Susan Mayne, who directed FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition from 2015 to 2023, writes that record cyclospora cases have struck as the federal food safety apparatus has been simultaneously weakened.
- FDA is investigating six cyclospora outbreaks, only one of which is linked to shredded iceberg lettuce, with cases prompting public jokes about pizza and Oreos replacing fresh produce.
- The administration has cut experienced career staff at FDA and CDC and reduced both agencies' budgets over the past 18 months, with Mayne noting Michigan and other states absorbing the response burden.
- The FoodNet surveillance program was changed to eliminate six pathogens from federal tracking, including cyclospora itself.
- FDA delayed the compliance date for traceability requirements on high-risk foods—including leafy greens, melons, sprouts, peppers, and fresh-cut fruits—until July 2028.
- A USDA research facility in Beltsville, Md., housing cyclospora laboratories was closed, and the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria in Foods was disbanded.
- Mayne warns that the administration's dismissal of climate change will intensify contamination risks through extreme rainfall, flooding, and increased food waste.
Why it matters: Consumers face a worsening trade-off between nutrition and safety because the fresh fruits and vegetables the administration promotes as healthy are exactly the FDA's highest-risk foods—and the traceability rules meant to protect that supply chain have been pushed to July 2028, with cyclospora specifically dropped from federal surveillance.
