The current outbreak is caused by a single-cell parasite known as Cyclospora. Budget hinders food-parasite probe

Federal authorities are struggling to explain why 600 people in 22 states have fallen ill from a foodborne parasite rarely seen in the United States.

But some officials are ready to finger one culprit that has hindered their investigation: the sequester.


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has had to slash $285 million at a time when food and health experts say disease detection needs more funding as these type of food outbreak cases become more complex and widespread.

The current outbreak, caused by a single-cell parasite known as Cyclospora, is a case in point. About 250 consumers in Nebraska and Iowa got sick after eating at Red Lobster and Olive Garden, and their illnesses were linked to a salad mix produced by Taylor Farms de Mexico. But another 250 Texas residents who are sick with the same bug have no link to the product. On top of that, about 100 consumers are reportedly ill in 19 other states and there is no clear link between them.

The investigation has been dragging on for two months, and frustration is building.

Further confounding officials is the extensive nine-day on-farm investigation conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at Taylor Farms’ operations in central Mexico. The FDA — which works with states and the CDC to solve foodborne illness outbreaks — reported finding no trace of the parasite and noted that the farm was operating “in accordance with known food safety protocols” — unusual praise after an on-site investigation for an outbreak. The agency said this week it does not know how Cyclospora might have contaminated the salad mix blamed for some of the illnesses.

Taylor Farms, which is the largest supplier of leafy greens in the U.S., said its operation has undergone more than 1,800 tests, and every single one of which has come back negative for the parasite. After voluntarily suspending operations for two weeks, the company has resumed operations and instated regular testing for Cyclospora.

Meanwhile, CDC officials are circling around another possible explanation.

“We’re coming to the conclusion that this may be two separate outbreaks,” said Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases. “It’s very difficult to come up with any explanation that connects the two.”

Significantly hindering the CDC is that it does not have the technology it needs to conduct the “genetic fingerprinting” that would tell investigators which illnesses are linked to a common source, Tauxe said.

The Obama administration is seeking $40 million in additional funding for CDC in fiscal year 2014 to address the issue, with an Advanced Molecular Detection initiative, but the continued focus on cutting discretionary spending in Washington makes boosting funding at any agency a challenge.

The tests the feds are currently using are “very, very primitive,” said Tauxe, who noted Cyclospora has not received the same funding and attention as more common foodborne pathogens, such as Salmonella and E. coli. There hasn’t been a major Cyclospora outbreak in the U.S. since 1997. “Budget priorities have played a role here,” he said.

“We’re trying to do real detective work without fingerprints because we don’t have the technology to do it,” said CDC spokesperson Barbara Reynolds. “It’s really exciting technology, but there has to be an investment in software, hardware, and training.”

Meanwhile, she said, “we’re falling more and more behind.”

Pressure building

The lack of a smoking gun at Taylor Farms and growing concerns about a lack of adequate technology are just the latest twist in what has been a long and controversial outbreak investigation. Earlier this summer, federal health officials were criticized for taking several weeks to find the source for hundreds of illness in Nebraska and Iowa, which cropped up earlier than those in Texas, and then again for not immediately naming the restaurants and suppliers involved.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) shot a letter to both the FDA and CDC in early August that “demanded answers” about how the investigation unfolded and asked why the agencies were not being forthright with American consumers.

These latest developments are adding fuel to speculation that public health officials may have botched the investigation.

“I would be really surprised if this is not from one source somewhere and it is looking like Taylor may not be the original source,” said David Acheson, a consultant at Leavitt Partners who served as FDA’s associate commissioner for foods during the Bush administration.

Michael Osterholm, a leading foodborne disease expert at the University of Minnesota, agrees.

“Iowa and Nebraska might have missed the real cause,” said Osterholm, who has been a vocal critic of the Cyclospora investigation. “It might not be leafy greens.”

Officials at both CDC and FDA said they are confident in their conclusions for illnesses in Nebraska and Iowa, but admitted they are not close to nailing down a source for the rest of the cases, if they are in fact linked.

The debate over the cause of the outbreak is reminiscent of a 2008 debacle in which FDA mistakenly warned consumers in certain states to avoid tomatoes during a Salmonella outbreak. The agency eventually determined the culprit was raw peppers grown in Mexico.

Tomato growers in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina — who lost hundreds of millions of dollars as demand dropped — sued the federal government this month seeking $40 million in compensation for the mix up.