July 20, 2026
MAJOR UPDATE: FDA Apologizes, Admits False Positive Test For Cyclospora
Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
Castro 
RSS Feed It was a stunning reversal in just 24 hours. The FDA has publicly admitted it made a mistake, and the lettuce supplier to Taco Bell claims its even apologized to them, after it now says it has not found any confirmed source to the biggest cyclospora outbreak in the history of the United States. The agency has announced that lab experts “re-reviewed” sample results and determined that the Taylor Farm lettuce tested for cyclospora showed a “false positive” result for cyclospora. So now what?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, there are folks, it is Monday, July twentieth. Then pull the toilet paper. We got folks set up shop on toilets all over the country. We're being told we need to avoid this, let us at certain places. Taco Bell stock continues to go down. And now what is the federal government telling us? We got a false positive on our cyclospora test? And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Does it even matter what they tell us next?
00:00:31
Speaker 2: No, And that's a hell of a whoopsie, I mean, and it was what twenty four hours they have identified the source. And look, we even threw caution out there that yes, they identified a source, maybe not the source they were able to they claimed on Saturday link much of this outbreak, or at least a big portion of this outbreak to a specific food producer that had a farm in Mexico that sold iceberg lettuce to Taco Bell in five states.
00:01:04
Speaker 3: Okay, we're getting somewhere. Except for now they.
00:01:07
Speaker 2: Say, never mind, that was a mistake.
00:01:11
Speaker 3: We're sorry.
00:01:13
Speaker 2: We actually don't have any idea where the cyclospora source is coming from.
00:01:20
Speaker 1: Well, here we go, folks, So if we it makes sense, And this is a difficult statement to make, but it is one they wanted to be clear. On robes. They have not gotten a single test back from any plant anywhere testing any food that is positive for cyclospora. That is the truth as we wake up here on this Monday morning. They were robes. They could still with some degree of what I don't know if it's certainty, but be optimistic about the way things are going from all these interviews that the CDC was doing. It's not fool proof, but they at least thought they were on the right now.
00:02:00
Speaker 3: Yes, because the CDC was tracing.
00:02:02
Speaker 2: I mean, much like we all remember from the days of COVID where they did contact tracing. They're trying to find who patient zero is, or at least find what or who the source was. The same idea exists. They were trying to trace back based on folks eating habits, their food diary so to speak, that they were trying to put together for the past two weeks and find some commonality, and that commonality was pointing towards taco bell And when they looked to see what folks ate, they tried to yes, based on verbal evidence, basically folks telling them what they ate. Say, hey, the one thing a lot of these people all had in common is they ate a product with this Iceberg lettuce on it.
00:02:43
Speaker 3: So it's anecdotal, it's not scientific.
00:02:46
Speaker 2: And so with that, in combination with this what they thought was a positive test from lettuce, they were able to make this big announcement that yes, we have determined or found a source.
00:03:00
Speaker 1: Taylor Farms reacted to that pulled everything they don't they pulled? Did they not pull all of their well from this farm?
00:03:07
Speaker 2: I should say, I can tell you here are the actions that were taken based on this information where we were given. Just a short while ago, Tailor Farms voluntarily removed all Iceberg lettuce source from Mexico from twenty seven states. So we're not just talking about Taco Bell. We're talking about every place they sent that lettuce to. They voluntarily recalled it. Taco Bell removed all affected Tailor Farms lettuce from its restaurants, put out a big statement saying, you can eat at our restaurants again, we have no lettuce from Tailor Farms. Walmart even announced over the weekend they removed four market side bagged Iceberg lettuce salad products.
00:03:44
Speaker 3: These are big salad kits.
00:03:46
Speaker 2: That are they have the label of the Walmart label on it, but it actually is manufactured by Tailor Farms. So they took out and they made it clear, hey, this is a precautionary move. There's no confirmed illnesses, but out of an abundance of caution, we're taking all of these products off of our store shelf. So a lot was done in response to what our government was telling us.
00:04:08
Speaker 1: I guess it's possible that this is correct. It's possible this is still the farm. This is possible, I guess roads through the trade. But don't they need to find don't they need to confirm it's coming from there before we know how to go about our eating lies.
00:04:27
Speaker 2: They have to And yes, they did say they are still following through with these recalls, and you should still assume, perhaps that they are close to identifying a source. So they aren't stopping the recall, they aren't stopping the removal of those products, and they're not telling people to go ahead and eat those products. No, they are still standing by the original direction that they gave the country. But it is incredible, confusing and erodes a very I don't even know if there was trust right now, at least in our government agencies, pretty much any of them.
00:05:10
Speaker 3: I don't know.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: What is the level of trust we have for our government, for the folks who were supposed to be protecting us on all accounts, on all fronts, I don't know.
00:05:21
Speaker 3: But wherever it was, it just got worse.
00:05:24
Speaker 2: I think to read the FDA statement is appropriate right now because this is what they had to say.
00:05:31
Speaker 3: This is pretty remarkable.
00:05:32
Speaker 2: Can you recall, by the way, the last time a government agency said we made a mistake.
00:05:39
Speaker 1: You know what? That was a time in ninety seven. I think that's fine.
00:05:43
Speaker 3: I did say, someone say, this showed incredible courage. No, this is what you're supposed to do. I hate applauding.
00:05:50
Speaker 2: Correct I saw a scientist in one of the articles I might have been the Washington Post saying, Hey, this actually should be applauded. This as courageous to be able to admit a mistake, something to that effect, And I thought, I'm sorry, isn't that what we should expect.
00:06:02
Speaker 1: Yes, don't award your kid for being polite that you're supposed to. I taught you to do this.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: No, I took total issue without Okay, here's the FDA statement the FDA is providing an update regarding this sample of lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms of Mexico, which was reported positive on July eighteenth, twenty twenty six. Due to the complexity in detection of cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive. Information about the sample has been removed from the update. The FDA has notified Taylor Farms and continues working with the firm to ensure product implicated in this outbreak has been removed from the market. FDA and state partners continue to collect and analyze product sample and here's the big line. As of July nineteenth, twenty twenty six, there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for cyclospora.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: I have some questions. They re reviewed it.
00:07:15
Speaker 2: Why Why wouldn't they have done that before they issued the announcement.
00:07:20
Speaker 1: I'm confused timing. I don't know how the testing goes. Maybe there is that's possible, but that is something you don't go public with unless you know what you're talking about. I would assume, right.
00:07:30
Speaker 2: I don't think so too, and Also, the science is complicated. Testing for this organism is difficult, and false positives are always possible. So what can we trust when you hear these types of phrases. I always thought science was the thing we could count on.
00:07:46
Speaker 1: That's the thing. False positives are possible when you figure it out for sure. That's when you let me know. I don't understand this.
00:07:55
Speaker 2: I don't need to be let known something in the middle of the process if things could change. And because I am not a scientist, you are going to confuse me even more.
00:08:05
Speaker 1: We just had you just told us, hey, this stuff has cyclospora, but you didn't put in parentheses. We won't be sure though for a couple of days. Why didn't just give us a heads up? This could be a false positive, but the preliminary results that bro is never The crime is to cover up. It's yes, we have problems in the system, but now the problem is how we're communicating what the problem is. I get it. I know there are fewer people keeping an eye out for diseases like this, and things and outbreaks maybe happen more and can't get called us fast. This I understand, But when they happen, now you're making it worse. We got numbers kind of out of Michigan. Why are they coming out much faster than the ones we're getting from the federal government, who we're all supposed to be listening to. Even that is causing confusion through this whole thing. The lettuce is here, it is there? Is there a raspberry or a snowpee? Or is there a bag let us? Should I cut the head? Bro?
00:08:57
Speaker 3: Should I have cilantro? Can I have peak of the guy? I QUACAMOLEA know what?
00:09:01
Speaker 1: And here we go again? Who has stepped out? Who is leading the charge on this tropes? Who's a public face and is giving us information?
00:09:09
Speaker 3: No one wants it to be that would be my answer.
00:09:11
Speaker 2: And I don't know that they have the body count to provide that because they don't have the resources they had before. Taylor Farm's statement was swift and they want to make things very clear. I thought this was fascinating. The first it's a big green message with white bold lettering, and the first sentence is today FDA apologized to us. Yesterday, FDA informed Taylor Fresh Foods that one of its iceberg lettuce products from Central Mexico had a confirmed positive test.
00:09:44
Speaker 3: For cyclist SPORA.
00:09:45
Speaker 2: Today, we were informed that the FDA made a mistake and this was a false positive.
00:09:53
Speaker 1: Look.
00:09:54
Speaker 2: They said, to be clear, at this moment, the FDA has not identified a single positive product test result for cyclists. So they put this in bold, and I, you know, this is something that does tremendous damage, obviously to a company.
00:10:07
Speaker 3: I'm wondering if this is.
00:10:09
Speaker 2: Bad enough where this could put someone or at least a farm, or certainly people who work on that farm out of a job or out of business.
00:10:16
Speaker 3: But they put this in bold in their statement.
00:10:18
Speaker 2: All other tailor farm products, including all Tailor Farm brand products, are not involved in the recall. And they said, our thoughts remain with everyone who has fallen ill in this outbreak. We are committed to working with public health authorities as the ongoing.
00:10:32
Speaker 3: Outbreak investigation continues.
00:10:34
Speaker 2: Look, this is this is tough for everybody. This is especially tough for tailor farms. And it's not to say that they're not a part of this. They could still be a part of this. But wow, this is unbelievably damaging.
00:10:52
Speaker 1: Two. I thought when I saw this statement, I thought it was unbelievably damaging to the FDA, and its relationship with American Public. The company has come out and they know good and hell well what this means. It doesn't mean they're in the clear. They know this, They know that they probably even know the stuff likely came from them. They know what we don't know.
00:11:11
Speaker 3: They've been involved in outbreaks before.
00:11:13
Speaker 2: There was a big echol I want a few years ago, so they have been down this road.
00:11:17
Speaker 3: They know that this is possible and even likely in some ways.
00:11:21
Speaker 1: But they led with the thing that was true, even though it is misleading, but it's the most positive thing that came from it. The FDA did apologize to an oopsie to them. They took that and made it the headline, which makes it seem as if we are innocent in this entire matter and the FDA has cleared us. No no, no, no, no, no, not at all. But they took that was that was written like a Hollywood PR person.
00:11:49
Speaker 2: Not absolutely, it was like a big movie scroll. And to your point, babe, when we come back, we're going to talk about the eroded public trust and that big statement. People had plenty of comments following that statement. They weren't positive towards Taylor Farm. And wait until you hear about the CDC cuts that potentially led up to this massive cyclospora outbreak, and welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. Looks like we are back to square one trying to find the source of this cyclost spora outbreak that we know has sickened at least seven thousand people across the country. It is already the largest cyclospora outbreak in US history, And go ahead and multiply that number by two or three. That's probably a more realistic situation in terms of how many people are dealing with this. And we haven't even gotten the updated numbers from over the weekend. So all this to say, this has been an incredibly uncomfortable, difficult, and perhaps an unnecessary outbreak. It began back in May. We know that in Michigan, and look, CNN is reporting about some significant lab cuts. The head of the lab has been speaking out. He resigned. I don't even really remember this, but I guess I kind of do. Back in September, he was so upset because his staff went from eleven to three, and that is the lab that.
00:13:24
Speaker 3: Is specifically.
00:13:27
Speaker 2: Supposed to identify parasitic outbreaks. Coincidence, he thinks, not.
00:13:34
Speaker 1: Sure the timing is suspect.
00:13:36
Speaker 3: Three people are in charge of this lab right now.
00:13:39
Speaker 2: It's this lab that has three people in it that now reevaluated the results and realized.
00:13:46
Speaker 3: That it was a false positive.
00:13:48
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know. Sounds like you would want more.
00:13:51
Speaker 2: But he describes this outbreak as the perfect storm because one percent he actually sent an email emails out to the CDC about the risks of losing basically his entire staff and is the reason behind him actually resigning his position because he did not want to be in charge of something if an outbreak were to occur. Fast forward a few months and here we are in July, way behind the curve of the CDC. Numbers are way behind what state officials are reporting.
00:14:21
Speaker 3: And that's a fact.
00:14:23
Speaker 2: They are behind the curve here, and it could absolutely be part of the reason why we're so behind and identifying a source.
00:14:32
Speaker 1: I don't know how anyone could argue with that. And if you're telling me the guy who's in there correct it's coming out and giving his opinion about it, then I'd have to listen to him. But right now, Robes, we can fix that problem later. Right now, we just got to find this one. I am very curious to know what the numbers are when they do get them out today. Are they going to slow down? Is this thing spreading even more? Is it going to be forty two states? I mean, what is going on? We don't know where this stuff is. We don't even know for sure what thus.
00:15:00
Speaker 2: Nope, we're supposed to be looking for meantime, everyone's trying to figure out what to do.
00:15:04
Speaker 3: This is the time of your people love to eat fresh produce.
00:15:07
Speaker 2: You want that salad, you want those fruits, you want those veggies, you want that basil. And I guess this is the time. My dad pointed this out, who is a microologist. It's a great time to have a yard in a garden, because that'd be the only way I would trust the produce that I was eating. And look, I was just looking at some of the comments at the bottom of that tailor Farm's big statement, basically pointing the finger right back at the government. And look, some people said, I just threw away two bags of salad kits for no reason. I mean, there's a lot of wasted produce, a lot of wasted money. A lot of folks are tough, some people, A lot of this we don't believe you were lies. Must be nice to have the president in your pocket and take zero accountability. And look, there are a lot of people are posting the fact that they claim Taylor Farms gave a million dollars to MAGA this past spring, and they're saying that. So the amount of my point is, no one trusts Taylor Farms, no one trusts the government.
00:16:06
Speaker 3: One person put up there.
00:16:07
Speaker 2: The CEO and the FDA commissioner should eat a random bag of Taylor lettuce from the shelf on camera live.
00:16:13
Speaker 3: Then I'll believe them.
00:16:15
Speaker 1: That would be awesome. That is a brilliant freaking idea. It's low risk for whoever's eating it. I mean, the chances are right.
00:16:24
Speaker 3: That was my favorite post. That's what I wanted to do.
00:16:27
Speaker 2: Good. The CEO of Taylor Farms and the FDA commissioners should eat a random bag of Taylor letters from the shelf on camera live.
00:16:35
Speaker 1: What would you do? How could you help this situation? Just throw a slid brunch something major. Oh that's a good idea.
00:16:41
Speaker 2: Uh yes, so look, we will wait to hear more from officials, But the problem is, even once we do, are they going to be believed? What we are at a place now where I think this is the lowest I've ever seen in terms of trust, trust for anyone and with anyone, and including every single government agency right now, and this is of serious public health concern.
00:17:08
Speaker 1: I'd listen to Fauci right now. And who is the lady that had the scars all the time the doctor was he? I would listen to her right now on this one. They would be great. Nobody's dying? Have this country not a problem? Oh my goodness, Yes, that's all. We just need a voice, trusted voice, I say, a trusted voice. I would just say a trusted position, or a trusted uniform, or a trusted something we don't have to even know as a whole background. We need someone in a position of authority that we go, okay, this isn't a partisan bullshit, or we can listen.
00:17:42
Speaker 2: I don't know what that They have a huge pr problem right now and public health including you know RFK Junior as controversial as all as all of his statements have been.
00:17:52
Speaker 3: And look, I really like, who do we look to, Who is the medical voice of reason? Who is that public health official who we can and I'll.
00:18:00
Speaker 2: Say, okay, we're getting it straight from this person, from the head of the Health and Human Services who is probably one of the biggest lightning rods in terms of political discourse. I mean, who do we look to at this point? I don't think we have the answer.
00:18:14
Speaker 1: We haven't heard from.
00:18:16
Speaker 3: Where's doctor Oze? Where are they?
00:18:20
Speaker 2: Someone needs to come out from this administration and make some sense of all of these confusing headlines.
00:18:26
Speaker 3: This is a disaster.
00:18:28
Speaker 1: But then you'd be the face of cyclospora.
00:18:31
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe you could just be the voice of it right yes, it of public health and trust and there's a void right now and folks are really really looking for some answers. We'll continue to stay on top of the story as it continues to change hour by hour. We always appreciate you listening to us, every one. I'm Amy Roboch alongside DJ Holmes.
00:18:53
Speaker 3: We'll talk to you some.
00:19:01
Speaker 1: Man. Tim
Speaker 1: Hey, there are folks, it is Monday, July twentieth. Then pull the toilet paper. We got folks set up shop on toilets all over the country. We're being told we need to avoid this, let us at certain places. Taco Bell stock continues to go down. And now what is the federal government telling us? We got a false positive on our cyclospora test? And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Does it even matter what they tell us next?
00:00:31
Speaker 2: No, And that's a hell of a whoopsie, I mean, and it was what twenty four hours they have identified the source. And look, we even threw caution out there that yes, they identified a source, maybe not the source they were able to they claimed on Saturday link much of this outbreak, or at least a big portion of this outbreak to a specific food producer that had a farm in Mexico that sold iceberg lettuce to Taco Bell in five states.
00:01:04
Speaker 3: Okay, we're getting somewhere. Except for now they.
00:01:07
Speaker 2: Say, never mind, that was a mistake.
00:01:11
Speaker 3: We're sorry.
00:01:13
Speaker 2: We actually don't have any idea where the cyclospora source is coming from.
00:01:20
Speaker 1: Well, here we go, folks, So if we it makes sense, And this is a difficult statement to make, but it is one they wanted to be clear. On robes. They have not gotten a single test back from any plant anywhere testing any food that is positive for cyclospora. That is the truth as we wake up here on this Monday morning. They were robes. They could still with some degree of what I don't know if it's certainty, but be optimistic about the way things are going from all these interviews that the CDC was doing. It's not fool proof, but they at least thought they were on the right now.
00:02:00
Speaker 3: Yes, because the CDC was tracing.
00:02:02
Speaker 2: I mean, much like we all remember from the days of COVID where they did contact tracing. They're trying to find who patient zero is, or at least find what or who the source was. The same idea exists. They were trying to trace back based on folks eating habits, their food diary so to speak, that they were trying to put together for the past two weeks and find some commonality, and that commonality was pointing towards taco bell And when they looked to see what folks ate, they tried to yes, based on verbal evidence, basically folks telling them what they ate. Say, hey, the one thing a lot of these people all had in common is they ate a product with this Iceberg lettuce on it.
00:02:43
Speaker 3: So it's anecdotal, it's not scientific.
00:02:46
Speaker 2: And so with that, in combination with this what they thought was a positive test from lettuce, they were able to make this big announcement that yes, we have determined or found a source.
00:03:00
Speaker 1: Taylor Farms reacted to that pulled everything they don't they pulled? Did they not pull all of their well from this farm?
00:03:07
Speaker 2: I should say, I can tell you here are the actions that were taken based on this information where we were given. Just a short while ago, Tailor Farms voluntarily removed all Iceberg lettuce source from Mexico from twenty seven states. So we're not just talking about Taco Bell. We're talking about every place they sent that lettuce to. They voluntarily recalled it. Taco Bell removed all affected Tailor Farms lettuce from its restaurants, put out a big statement saying, you can eat at our restaurants again, we have no lettuce from Tailor Farms. Walmart even announced over the weekend they removed four market side bagged Iceberg lettuce salad products.
00:03:44
Speaker 3: These are big salad kits.
00:03:46
Speaker 2: That are they have the label of the Walmart label on it, but it actually is manufactured by Tailor Farms. So they took out and they made it clear, hey, this is a precautionary move. There's no confirmed illnesses, but out of an abundance of caution, we're taking all of these products off of our store shelf. So a lot was done in response to what our government was telling us.
00:04:08
Speaker 1: I guess it's possible that this is correct. It's possible this is still the farm. This is possible, I guess roads through the trade. But don't they need to find don't they need to confirm it's coming from there before we know how to go about our eating lies.
00:04:27
Speaker 2: They have to And yes, they did say they are still following through with these recalls, and you should still assume, perhaps that they are close to identifying a source. So they aren't stopping the recall, they aren't stopping the removal of those products, and they're not telling people to go ahead and eat those products. No, they are still standing by the original direction that they gave the country. But it is incredible, confusing and erodes a very I don't even know if there was trust right now, at least in our government agencies, pretty much any of them.
00:05:10
Speaker 3: I don't know.
00:05:10
Speaker 2: What is the level of trust we have for our government, for the folks who were supposed to be protecting us on all accounts, on all fronts, I don't know.
00:05:21
Speaker 3: But wherever it was, it just got worse.
00:05:24
Speaker 2: I think to read the FDA statement is appropriate right now because this is what they had to say.
00:05:31
Speaker 3: This is pretty remarkable.
00:05:32
Speaker 2: Can you recall, by the way, the last time a government agency said we made a mistake.
00:05:39
Speaker 1: You know what? That was a time in ninety seven. I think that's fine.
00:05:43
Speaker 3: I did say, someone say, this showed incredible courage. No, this is what you're supposed to do. I hate applauding.
00:05:50
Speaker 2: Correct I saw a scientist in one of the articles I might have been the Washington Post saying, Hey, this actually should be applauded. This as courageous to be able to admit a mistake, something to that effect, And I thought, I'm sorry, isn't that what we should expect.
00:06:02
Speaker 1: Yes, don't award your kid for being polite that you're supposed to. I taught you to do this.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: No, I took total issue without Okay, here's the FDA statement the FDA is providing an update regarding this sample of lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms of Mexico, which was reported positive on July eighteenth, twenty twenty six. Due to the complexity in detection of cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive. Information about the sample has been removed from the update. The FDA has notified Taylor Farms and continues working with the firm to ensure product implicated in this outbreak has been removed from the market. FDA and state partners continue to collect and analyze product sample and here's the big line. As of July nineteenth, twenty twenty six, there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for cyclospora.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: I have some questions. They re reviewed it.
00:07:15
Speaker 2: Why Why wouldn't they have done that before they issued the announcement.
00:07:20
Speaker 1: I'm confused timing. I don't know how the testing goes. Maybe there is that's possible, but that is something you don't go public with unless you know what you're talking about. I would assume, right.
00:07:30
Speaker 2: I don't think so too, and Also, the science is complicated. Testing for this organism is difficult, and false positives are always possible. So what can we trust when you hear these types of phrases. I always thought science was the thing we could count on.
00:07:46
Speaker 1: That's the thing. False positives are possible when you figure it out for sure. That's when you let me know. I don't understand this.
00:07:55
Speaker 2: I don't need to be let known something in the middle of the process if things could change. And because I am not a scientist, you are going to confuse me even more.
00:08:05
Speaker 1: We just had you just told us, hey, this stuff has cyclospora, but you didn't put in parentheses. We won't be sure though for a couple of days. Why didn't just give us a heads up? This could be a false positive, but the preliminary results that bro is never The crime is to cover up. It's yes, we have problems in the system, but now the problem is how we're communicating what the problem is. I get it. I know there are fewer people keeping an eye out for diseases like this, and things and outbreaks maybe happen more and can't get called us fast. This I understand, But when they happen, now you're making it worse. We got numbers kind of out of Michigan. Why are they coming out much faster than the ones we're getting from the federal government, who we're all supposed to be listening to. Even that is causing confusion through this whole thing. The lettuce is here, it is there? Is there a raspberry or a snowpee? Or is there a bag let us? Should I cut the head? Bro?
00:08:57
Speaker 3: Should I have cilantro? Can I have peak of the guy? I QUACAMOLEA know what?
00:09:01
Speaker 1: And here we go again? Who has stepped out? Who is leading the charge on this tropes? Who's a public face and is giving us information?
00:09:09
Speaker 3: No one wants it to be that would be my answer.
00:09:11
Speaker 2: And I don't know that they have the body count to provide that because they don't have the resources they had before. Taylor Farm's statement was swift and they want to make things very clear. I thought this was fascinating. The first it's a big green message with white bold lettering, and the first sentence is today FDA apologized to us. Yesterday, FDA informed Taylor Fresh Foods that one of its iceberg lettuce products from Central Mexico had a confirmed positive test.
00:09:44
Speaker 3: For cyclist SPORA.
00:09:45
Speaker 2: Today, we were informed that the FDA made a mistake and this was a false positive.
00:09:53
Speaker 1: Look.
00:09:54
Speaker 2: They said, to be clear, at this moment, the FDA has not identified a single positive product test result for cyclists. So they put this in bold, and I, you know, this is something that does tremendous damage, obviously to a company.
00:10:07
Speaker 3: I'm wondering if this is.
00:10:09
Speaker 2: Bad enough where this could put someone or at least a farm, or certainly people who work on that farm out of a job or out of business.
00:10:16
Speaker 3: But they put this in bold in their statement.
00:10:18
Speaker 2: All other tailor farm products, including all Tailor Farm brand products, are not involved in the recall. And they said, our thoughts remain with everyone who has fallen ill in this outbreak. We are committed to working with public health authorities as the ongoing.
00:10:32
Speaker 3: Outbreak investigation continues.
00:10:34
Speaker 2: Look, this is this is tough for everybody. This is especially tough for tailor farms. And it's not to say that they're not a part of this. They could still be a part of this. But wow, this is unbelievably damaging.
00:10:52
Speaker 1: Two. I thought when I saw this statement, I thought it was unbelievably damaging to the FDA, and its relationship with American Public. The company has come out and they know good and hell well what this means. It doesn't mean they're in the clear. They know this, They know that they probably even know the stuff likely came from them. They know what we don't know.
00:11:11
Speaker 3: They've been involved in outbreaks before.
00:11:13
Speaker 2: There was a big echol I want a few years ago, so they have been down this road.
00:11:17
Speaker 3: They know that this is possible and even likely in some ways.
00:11:21
Speaker 1: But they led with the thing that was true, even though it is misleading, but it's the most positive thing that came from it. The FDA did apologize to an oopsie to them. They took that and made it the headline, which makes it seem as if we are innocent in this entire matter and the FDA has cleared us. No no, no, no, no, no, not at all. But they took that was that was written like a Hollywood PR person.
00:11:49
Speaker 2: Not absolutely, it was like a big movie scroll. And to your point, babe, when we come back, we're going to talk about the eroded public trust and that big statement. People had plenty of comments following that statement. They weren't positive towards Taylor Farm. And wait until you hear about the CDC cuts that potentially led up to this massive cyclospora outbreak, and welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. Looks like we are back to square one trying to find the source of this cyclost spora outbreak that we know has sickened at least seven thousand people across the country. It is already the largest cyclospora outbreak in US history, And go ahead and multiply that number by two or three. That's probably a more realistic situation in terms of how many people are dealing with this. And we haven't even gotten the updated numbers from over the weekend. So all this to say, this has been an incredibly uncomfortable, difficult, and perhaps an unnecessary outbreak. It began back in May. We know that in Michigan, and look, CNN is reporting about some significant lab cuts. The head of the lab has been speaking out. He resigned. I don't even really remember this, but I guess I kind of do. Back in September, he was so upset because his staff went from eleven to three, and that is the lab that.
00:13:24
Speaker 3: Is specifically.
00:13:27
Speaker 2: Supposed to identify parasitic outbreaks. Coincidence, he thinks, not.
00:13:34
Speaker 1: Sure the timing is suspect.
00:13:36
Speaker 3: Three people are in charge of this lab right now.
00:13:39
Speaker 2: It's this lab that has three people in it that now reevaluated the results and realized.
00:13:46
Speaker 3: That it was a false positive.
00:13:48
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know. Sounds like you would want more.
00:13:51
Speaker 2: But he describes this outbreak as the perfect storm because one percent he actually sent an email emails out to the CDC about the risks of losing basically his entire staff and is the reason behind him actually resigning his position because he did not want to be in charge of something if an outbreak were to occur. Fast forward a few months and here we are in July, way behind the curve of the CDC. Numbers are way behind what state officials are reporting.
00:14:21
Speaker 3: And that's a fact.
00:14:23
Speaker 2: They are behind the curve here, and it could absolutely be part of the reason why we're so behind and identifying a source.
00:14:32
Speaker 1: I don't know how anyone could argue with that. And if you're telling me the guy who's in there correct it's coming out and giving his opinion about it, then I'd have to listen to him. But right now, Robes, we can fix that problem later. Right now, we just got to find this one. I am very curious to know what the numbers are when they do get them out today. Are they going to slow down? Is this thing spreading even more? Is it going to be forty two states? I mean, what is going on? We don't know where this stuff is. We don't even know for sure what thus.
00:15:00
Speaker 2: Nope, we're supposed to be looking for meantime, everyone's trying to figure out what to do.
00:15:04
Speaker 3: This is the time of your people love to eat fresh produce.
00:15:07
Speaker 2: You want that salad, you want those fruits, you want those veggies, you want that basil. And I guess this is the time. My dad pointed this out, who is a microologist. It's a great time to have a yard in a garden, because that'd be the only way I would trust the produce that I was eating. And look, I was just looking at some of the comments at the bottom of that tailor Farm's big statement, basically pointing the finger right back at the government. And look, some people said, I just threw away two bags of salad kits for no reason. I mean, there's a lot of wasted produce, a lot of wasted money. A lot of folks are tough, some people, A lot of this we don't believe you were lies. Must be nice to have the president in your pocket and take zero accountability. And look, there are a lot of people are posting the fact that they claim Taylor Farms gave a million dollars to MAGA this past spring, and they're saying that. So the amount of my point is, no one trusts Taylor Farms, no one trusts the government.
00:16:06
Speaker 3: One person put up there.
00:16:07
Speaker 2: The CEO and the FDA commissioner should eat a random bag of Taylor lettuce from the shelf on camera live.
00:16:13
Speaker 3: Then I'll believe them.
00:16:15
Speaker 1: That would be awesome. That is a brilliant freaking idea. It's low risk for whoever's eating it. I mean, the chances are right.
00:16:24
Speaker 3: That was my favorite post. That's what I wanted to do.
00:16:27
Speaker 2: Good. The CEO of Taylor Farms and the FDA commissioners should eat a random bag of Taylor letters from the shelf on camera live.
00:16:35
Speaker 1: What would you do? How could you help this situation? Just throw a slid brunch something major. Oh that's a good idea.
00:16:41
Speaker 2: Uh yes, so look, we will wait to hear more from officials, But the problem is, even once we do, are they going to be believed? What we are at a place now where I think this is the lowest I've ever seen in terms of trust, trust for anyone and with anyone, and including every single government agency right now, and this is of serious public health concern.
00:17:08
Speaker 1: I'd listen to Fauci right now. And who is the lady that had the scars all the time the doctor was he? I would listen to her right now on this one. They would be great. Nobody's dying? Have this country not a problem? Oh my goodness, Yes, that's all. We just need a voice, trusted voice, I say, a trusted voice. I would just say a trusted position, or a trusted uniform, or a trusted something we don't have to even know as a whole background. We need someone in a position of authority that we go, okay, this isn't a partisan bullshit, or we can listen.
00:17:42
Speaker 2: I don't know what that They have a huge pr problem right now and public health including you know RFK Junior as controversial as all as all of his statements have been.
00:17:52
Speaker 3: And look, I really like, who do we look to, Who is the medical voice of reason? Who is that public health official who we can and I'll.
00:18:00
Speaker 2: Say, okay, we're getting it straight from this person, from the head of the Health and Human Services who is probably one of the biggest lightning rods in terms of political discourse. I mean, who do we look to at this point? I don't think we have the answer.
00:18:14
Speaker 1: We haven't heard from.
00:18:16
Speaker 3: Where's doctor Oze? Where are they?
00:18:20
Speaker 2: Someone needs to come out from this administration and make some sense of all of these confusing headlines.
00:18:26
Speaker 3: This is a disaster.
00:18:28
Speaker 1: But then you'd be the face of cyclospora.
00:18:31
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe you could just be the voice of it right yes, it of public health and trust and there's a void right now and folks are really really looking for some answers. We'll continue to stay on top of the story as it continues to change hour by hour. We always appreciate you listening to us, every one. I'm Amy Roboch alongside DJ Holmes.
00:18:53
Speaker 3: We'll talk to you some.
00:19:01
Speaker 1: Man. Tim