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FDA inspections questioned after cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to Taylor Farms
WOWT • • business
Key Points:
- The cyclosporiasis outbreak, linked to contaminated lettuce from Taylor Farms in Guanajuato, Mexico, has caused nearly 25,000 cases and two deaths in the U.S., with the farm not inspected for seven years.
- Taylor Farms' facility was last inspected by the FDA in 2019, and prior to that in 2013 during a previous cyclosporiasis investigation.
- The FDA has consistently failed to meet federal inspection goals for foreign food facilities, conducting fewer than 1,000 inspections in 2025 compared to a target nearly 20 times higher.
- Despite a law requiring extensive foreign facility inspections to prevent contaminated food, the FDA has met less than 10% of its inspection goals over the past decade.
- FDA officials attribute the low inspection numbers to budget and staffing constraints, calling the mandated inspection targets unrealistic.
