Not ‘standard’ for Taylor Farms to seek White House intervention in ‘diarrhea lettuce’ recall, ex-FDA chief says

‘I dealt with outbreaks in romaine lettuce and spinach as well,’ former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said. ‘I never heard from the White House on those things’

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Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said it was “unusual” and not “standard” for a produce company to ask the White House to delay a lettuce recall tied to a nationwide cyclospora outbreak .

Gottlieb made the remark to a Sunday news show in response to a Wall Street Journal report that Taylor Farms had contacted the White House about postponing a recall announcement — and that officials had brought the FDA into the discussion.

“That is not standard operating procedure, is it?” Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan asked Gottlieb, who had led the FDA for two years during President Donald Trump’s first term .

“No, it's not,” he said. “And it wasn't standard operating procedure when I was at FDA. I dealt with outbreaks in romaine lettuce and spinach as well…I never heard from the White House on those things, other than to have discussions to inform them of what we were doing, so that they were properly briefed and could respond to questions that they were getting. So it's unusual.”

According to the Journal , Taylor Farms representatives reached out to the White House as federal officials were increasingly focused on the California-based supplier in connection with the cyclosporiasis outbreak, a parasitic infection that can cause severe diarrhea. A lobbyist arranged the call, and White House officials asked the FDA to participate.

At issue was Taylor Farms’ contention that the government had not presented sufficient evidence linking its products to the outbreak. An HHS spokesperson told the Journal that the FDA had provided the company with “substantial evidence.”

Taylor Farms has donated millions of dollars in recent years to groups aligned with Trump.

“Any notion that the White House or Trump administration would ever compromise on the health and safety of the American people is absolutely false,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told The Independent .

Federal efforts to trace the source of the outbreak — which has historically been linked to contaminated produce — have resulted in confusing messaging.

On July 16, federal health officials said illnesses across five states were linked to Taco Bell . A day later, investigators identified Taylor Farms as the supplier of lettuce to affected locations. Later that same day, the company issued a voluntary recall of all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico.

But on July 19, the FDA reported it had identified a “false positive” in testing Taylor Farms’ lettuce and had not yet confirmed any positive samples. Taylor Farms later said the agency had apologized, something the FDA disputed.

“To clarify, this false-positive lab sample DOES NOT change the basis for FDA’s ongoing outbreak investigation or the overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the current voluntary recall by Taylor Farms,” the agency said in a July 20 post on X.

“The FDA is conducting a thorough and evidence-based outbreak investigation, and has never ‘walked back’ anything regarding the overwhelming epidemiological evidence pointing to a shipment of shredded lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico,” Desai said. “The White House continues to closely monitor these efforts, and stands by to provide any additional resources the FDA and CDC may need to trace and contain this Cyclosporas outbreak.”

Since May 1, the CDC has recorded 4,173 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis and an additional 7,400 suspected cases, making it one of the largest outbreaks in recent years . More than 8,000 cases have been reported in Michigan alone.

The illness, caused by consuming food or water contaminated with human feces and the cyclospora parasite, can lead to fever, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Symptoms typically resolve on their own, though the CDC recommends anyone suspected of having contracted the illness contacts a medical professional.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said the outbreak is under control — an assessment Gottlieb challenged.

“I don't think it's under control yet, per se,” he said. “I think that they've done a good job, FDA has, isolating this to central Mexico and some specific farms as well.”

“Remember, [for] this particular parasite, the only known reservoir for it is human fecal matter, so probably sewage got onto those growing fields in central Mexico and contaminated those crops,” Gottlieb added. “Nobody's sure how yet.”

When asked about the outbreak last week, Trump told reporters: "We're gonna put a major tariff on Mexico because of the lettuce.”

As the case count rises nationwide, federal health officials have come under scrutiny after the CDC removed cyclospora from a key foodborne illness monitoring program known as FoodNet last summer.

The Independent has contacted the FDA and Taylor Farms for comment.

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