The FDA Says It Hasn’t Apologized To The Agent For Diarrhea, Actually

In the middle among a diarrheaThe Food and Drug Administration and lettuce supplier Taylor Farms appear to be engaged in a fierce technology battle.

On July 17, the California company issued a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce from Central Mexico. The recall came after people in at least five states contracted cyclosporiasis, a disease that causes diarrhea.

The next day, the FDA he said that it identified a pest on Taylor Farms lettuce that was not part of the original recall. The next day that, the company and the FDA said that the results were false.

“Today, the FDA apologized to us,” Taylor Farms then posted on his X account on July 19.

The FDA disagreed with that interpretation, however. On July 20, a company official told reporters that the company was “not apologizing”. Instead, the official said, “we often gave information” about how difficult it is to test and investigate the cause of cyclospora outbreaks.

The agency confirmed that the recall — which spans 27, and includes lettuce sold to Taco Bell and Walmart — remains in place. “To be clear, this false laboratory sample does NOT change the basis of the FDA’s ongoing investigation or the epidemiological data that supports the current emergency recall of Taylor Farms,” wrote on X.

In its July 19 statement, Taylor Farms also wrote that the FDA “did not find positive results for Cyclospora.” However, this makes it difficult to accurately measure the parasite.

Many foodborne illness researchers find the source of the disease without trying things. Instead, researchers use epidemiological evidence, such as interviewing people who have tested positive for the virus, to identify similarities.

Taylor Farms says it took issue with how the FDA and CDC conducted their weeks-long investigation into the outbreak. A spokesperson told the New York Times that, last week, the company met with White House officials and the FDA to discuss what it called “deficiencies” in government agencies. The Times reported that Taylor Farms officials tried to question the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s compliance during the meeting, which took place on July 16, the day before Taylor Farms issued its recall.

Taylor Farms did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

Since May, thousands of people have fallen ill with cyclosporiasis, as health officials struggle to pinpoint where it started. Officials in Michigan say they have counted 6,148 cases in the state alone, though experts previously told WIRED that the number of cases nationwide is . probably higher than what has been said.