Top produce grower warns US may not have hit ‘peak’ of foodborne illnesses as officials insist food supply is safe

The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. Top produce grower warns US may not have hit ‘peak’ of foodborne illnesses as officials insist food supply is safe Cyclosporiasis has gripped the nation this summer, with outbreaks leading to more than 16,000 cases and over 300 hospitalizations - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments A nasty stomach illness caused by a parasite is surging across the U.S. but experts warn the country remains at risk of more outbreaks of different foodborne illnesses in the future. Cyclosporiasis has gripped the nation this summer, with outbreaks leading to more than 16,000 cases and over 300 hospitalizations. Infections can cause severe dehydration and explosive diarrhea but aren’t typically fatal. Yet, scientists fear life-threatening conditions like E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria and norovirus will be the threats of the future due to a cocktail of factors, including changing diets, climate change and limits on public health capabilities. “I am concerned that we may not have really hit the peak of the outbreaks,” German Rios, senior director of food safety and quality at the produce-grower Fresh Express, told the annual meeting of the International Association for Food Protection Monday, according to The New York Times. Members of the meeting were also worried that the root cause of the cyclosporiasis outbreaks may never be found, according to the report. The source of cyclosporiasis outbreaks remain under investigation but some cases have been linked to contaminated iceberg lettuce, parsley and cilantro, federal and state health officials say. Since the start of the outbreaks, many have wondered about recent changes to FoodNet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s surveillance system, which has tracked food poisoning infections in the U.S. for decades. Last summer, the system made tracking cyclospora, Listeria, Shigella, vibrio and Yersinia optional. While government health officials have denied cuts to the system would have impeded the nation’s monitoring abilities, others disagree. “Routine outbreak investigators are the firefighters responding to a specific blaze. FoodNet is the citywide system that tracks how often fires occur and whether the overall risk is rising,” Dan Jernigan, former director of CDC’s Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, told The Washington Post earlier this month. “Removing cyclosporiasis from FoodNet does not take the firefighters away from the current outbreak, but it does remove part of the system that tells us how large the problem is and whether it is getting worse over time,” he explained. The cuts allow for outbreaks to continue “without being figured out,” Bill Marler, a food safety lawyer, told CBS News. "Invariably more people will get sick," he added. The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately return The Independent’s request for comment on the matter, but spokesperson Emily Hilliard told CBS News the CDC never stopped monitoring illnesses caused by cyclospora. She also denied that 2025 staffing cuts had impacted foodborne illness investigators at the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has not met targets for domestic and foreign inspections since 2018, according to a report early last year by the Government Accountability Office. However, it’s not just surveillance that is an issue contributing to the nation’s nearly 50 million cases and 3,000 deaths each year, the FDA says. Cases of the shellfish-spread vibrio rise in warmer waters, for example. As ocean temperatures continue to smash records, the number of yearly infections is almost certain to keep rising. “Vibrio do thrive in warmer waters,” Kelsey Holloman, food-borne disease epidemiology program manager for the Virginia Department of Health, told Bay Journal, “so as the temperatures rise and stay warm longer, we would expect [cases] to increase.” Nearly half of foodborne illness outbreaks are related to produce. With more Americans eating healthier than they did 20 years ago, that leaves more exposure to illness. Lettuce is particularly tricky, with ridges and crevices that can hide bacteria and also the parasite, cyclospora. “More people are choosing raw or minimally processed food,” Soo Ahn, a food science and human nutrition lecturer at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, said in a statement last year. “Unpasteurized juices or organic produce can be healthy choices, but they also skip the important safety steps, like pasteurization in the case of raw milk, which can increase the risk of contamination, as well,” she noted. Despite these converging factors, top health regulators say Americans can still trust what they are eating. “The food supply remains the best, the safest, the most affordable in the world, and will continue to do so,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in an interview last week with NewsNation. 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