Why Food Keeps Making Everybody Sick This Summer
While Trump administration cuts have contributed to the epidemic of foodborne illnesses this summer, there are also deeper issues that make the American food supply chain susceptible to parasites and bacteria outbreaks.
This summer, foodborne illnesses have been plaguing people across the United States, with a significant outbreak of cyclospora linked to iceberg lettuce causing the most harm. At least 431 people have fallen ill, and 57 have been hospitalized in multiple states. Another outbreak of E. coli and salmonella from alfalfa sprouts has affected 55 people in 15 states.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified over 12,800 illnesses tied to foodborne outbreaks in 2026, marking a significant increase from previous years. Experts attribute this summer's health crisis to chronic underfunding in food safety systems, gaps in federal food policy, and recent cuts to the country's public health infrastructure.
Barbara Kowalcyk, director of George Washington University's Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition, notes the vulnerabilities in the system and the impact of stress on it. The FDA's numbers, which only count illnesses directly linked to a specific outbreak, likely undercount the actual number of sick individuals. Additionally, the CDC has reported at least 11,844 more cases that were not confirmed by lab tests or require further analysis.
The cyclospora outbreak is especially problematic due to its difficulty to eradicate and its ability to hide in leafy greens, herbs, and berries, which are often consumed raw. The CDC has experienced a significant reduction in staff, with about a quarter of the workforce laid off or leaving since the Trump administration took office.
This includes personnel in a lab that dealt with cyclospora outbreaks, leading to a reduction in staff from 11 to just three. Furthermore, the Trump administration cut roughly $12 billion in grants for state health departments, resulting in a loss of 23 infectious disease workers and 123 county health staff in Michigan. This has made it challenging for health departments to investigate the thousands of cyclospora cases in the state.
Despite the FDA's 2022 rule requiring businesses to maintain more detailed recordkeeping for high-risk foods, the rule has not yet been implemented. This has made it difficult to track outbreaks, particularly those involving imported foods from foreign countries that may not comply with US regulations.
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