Taylor Farms Reps Met With White House and FDA to Distance Themselves From Parasite Outbreak

Taylor Farms, a leading produce company that has donated hefty sums to President Donald Trump‘s MAGA Inc. super PAC and other Republican organizations, met with White House officials amid the cyclosporiasis parasite outbreak.

The New York Times reported last week that a meeting was held on Thursday, July 16, with White House officials as well as those from the Food and Drug Administration. According to an unnamed administration official, Taylor Farms execs sought to distance themselves from the outbreak.

Days later, on Saturday, July 18, the Food and Drug Administration reported that a sample of lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico was found to be positive for the parasite, which causes explosive diarrhea, among other symptoms.

In a July 19 update, however, they said the findings should be considered a “false positive” after re-reviewing the sample, due to “the complexity in detection of Cyclospora.”

A since-deleted X post from Taylor Farms said in part, “Today, FDA apologized to us.”

However, Taylor Farms de Mexico previously announced that they were voluntarily removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market.

People online appear to be suspicious, with some X users digging up Taylor Farms’ political ties and donations to Trump-backed organizations.

The Times also reported that Taylor Farms hired former Trump White House official Trent Morse.

In a statement to the Times, a Taylor Farms spokeswoman said that the meeting with White House and officials was to discuss what it said were “shortfalls” in the FDA and CDC’s “outbreak response process” and to focus on public health.

The publication noted that the FDA has been hit by staff cuts ordered by Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and, as a result, foreign food inspections decreased.

Still, the FDA has urged caution.

In an X post on July 20, the agency explained that the “false-positive lab sample DOES NOT change the basis for FDA’s ongoing outbreak investigation or the overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the current voluntary recall by Taylor Farms.”

“FDA’s traceback investigation and outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico,” the FDA statement continued. “FDA will continue to work with federal and state partners to investigate this multistate outbreak and ensure products implicated in this outbreak have been removed from the market.”

“Protecting the American public remains our highest priority. We encourage the public to continue to avoid all products listed in Taylor Farms’ voluntary recall,” the statement concluded.