NEW YORK: US produce supplier Taylor Farms has complained to the White House and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials about the government’s inspection process, a source familiar with the meeting says. The development came as Michigan reported a spike in cases of a parasitic disease tied to the company’s lettuce from Mexico.
Consumers have been on edge for weeks about whether it is safe to eat lettuce served at restaurants and elsewhere due to uncertainty over what products may be making people sick with cyclosporiasis, an intestinal disease that can cause explosive diarrhea.
Questions persist, and many people have avoided fresh produce to sidestep potential infections.
An FDA investigation linked the outbreak to iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants sourced from privately held Taylor Farms’ operations in central Mexico.
However, health officials are searching for other potential sources.
Some large retailers and restaurants were shunning produce from other growers in central Mexico out of fear about broader contamination of the region’s farms, former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said.
US Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a letter that he launched an inquiry into Taylor Farms’ role in the outbreak and whether the company attempted to influence the FDA’s response.
“Taylor Farms donated millions to President Trump, met privately with the White House the night the FDA identified their lettuce as the source of this outbreak, and then reportedly tried to distance themselves from this outbreak,” Garcia said.
Taylor Farms has said it immediately removed all potentially affected products from the marketplace when questions arose about the source of the outbreak and also voluntarily suspended production of all products at its facility in central Mexico.
The FDA said Taylor Farms agreed to remove affected produce following extensive discussions.
But the company did not meet an established 24-hour time frame for determining whether it would take voluntary action after the agency presented it with evidence, according to a source.
Another person familiar with the matter said Taylor Farms requested a meeting and spoke with officials from the White House and the food and drug agency.
The source described the meeting as Taylor Farms complaining about the government’s inspection process.
Taylor Farms did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House is closely monitoring the investigation into the outbreak, spokesman Kush Desai said.
“Any notion that the White House or the Trump administration would ever compromise on the health and safety of the American people is absolutely false,” he said.
“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.”
The US outbreak has resulted in 4,173 laboratory-confirmed cases, with health authorities aware of more than 7,400 additional suspected cases, according to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Michigan on Monday reported 9,253 cases, an increase of 1,077 cases since its update last Friday. — Reuters
