Taylor Farms Wasted More on MAGA and Forced Anti-Diarrhea Prevention Before It Happened

Lettuce seller in the middle of turbo diarrhea He has spent millions of dollars to change opinions on food and elect Donald Trump and other MAGA Republicans, according to public records.

Taylor Farms donated more than $2 million to mainstream political parties in 2025, according to Federal Election Commission records. That includes a $1 million donation to MAGA Inc., a Trump-centric super PAC, and $1.1 million to other super PACs dedicated to electing Republicans.

From 2020 through the end of 2024, the company donated more than $1.6 million to conservative PACs, including $850,000 to AFP Action, an anti-regulation super PAC and connection to the Koch network.

Bruce Taylor, chairman and CEO of Taylor Farms, is also a major Republican donor. Since 2020, Taylor has donated more than $900,000 to Republican PACs and candidates, including contributions to Texas senator John Cornyn and Tennessee senator Marsha Blackburn.

Like many business giants, Taylor Farms also spent a lot of money on recruiting people related to corporate governance. In early 2025, it hired a lobbyist from Sidley Austin to represent the company on “food safety management,” according to disclosure documents. Since then, the company has spent $810,000 on its fundraising efforts.

Marion Nestle, a food policy expert, said Taylor Farms’ contribution is part of a larger problem in the American food industry: that multibillion-dollar companies use their money to implement policies that would reduce food safety control and response to outbreaks.

“The FDA has regulations to regulate what food manufacturers have to do, but no one wants to do it — because it’s expensive and complicated,” Nestle told WIRED.

In the X documents, the US Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that Taylor Farms’ political contributions did not influence the Trump administration’s response. spread of cyclospora.

“This is how FAKE NEWS works: implying complicity, ignoring facts,” HHS accounts Monday Monday. “Nothing affects our decisions other than science and the safety of the American people.”

Taylor Farms appears to be contradicting the CDC and FDA’s handling of the ongoing investigation of cyclospora, which has sickened thousands of people in various states. The company recently said that the FDA “apologized” after announcing a false positive on a sample of Taylor Farms lettuce; the FDA told reporters that no, actually, the official apology did not happen. (The company did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.)

Before the false and unapologetic statements, Taylor Farms executives met with White House and FDA officials to discuss what a company spokesman called “shortcomings” in the agency’s response. The New York Times said that the meeting followed the recent hiring of Taylor Farms to Trent Morse, the deputy director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, who left the Trump administration to start a government contract in September.

The recent outbreak of diarrhea is not the first time that Taylor Farms, which brings in about $7 billion in annual revenue, has drawn the attention of state regulators.

In 2013, and the FDA Taylor Farms name as the source of a cyclospora outbreak that sickened hundreds. In 2015, the company has intentionally recalled several products containing celery because they may have been contaminated with it E. coli. And in 2024, The company recalled some yellow onions as part of the E. coli spread associated with McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. After the plague, CBS news He said FDA inspectors found numerous violations at the Colorado Taylor Farms facility linked to the Quarter Pounder outbreak, including poor hand washing and contaminated equipment.

Beginning in 2025, the FDA will inspect 18 American plants associated with Taylor Farms. Three resulted in “voluntary action,” meaning that while violations were found, they were not serious enough to warrant enforcement.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited at least 21 violations at Taylor Farms offices in the United States since the beginning of 2025. In a more alarming case, the Department of Labor he paid a fine in New Jersey of $1.1 million because of the violation. The May 2025 inspection was conducted after a worker died after being injured while washing the company’s blanch at the site.