SALINAS, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 10, 2023: During a break in the rain farm workers drain lettuce fields of flood water as an atmospheric river storm slams California in Salinas, California on Friday March 10, 2023. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Washington Post via Getty Images
As cases of Cyclospora-related diarrhea explode, the focus has been on identifying a particular food or ingredient that might be the source of the outbreak. But that narrow focus is short-sighted, missing that there are deeper failures that jeopardize us all.
As background, several aspects of Cyclospora infections are unique. It is transmitted only by humans—not by farm animals—and the host may be asymptomatic, even while shedding the in their stool.
Outbreaks are usually traced to produce—historically, to raspberries (34%), basil (31%), cilantro (10%), and salad mixes (10%).
Cyclospora is a single-celled parasite and takes 1-2 weeks from the time it is excreted to develop in the environment before it can make people ill. This delay makes it more difficult to track its source.
Further, chlorination or chemical disinfection is ineffective. The Food and Drug Administration notes that microfiltration, ozone, or UV treatments may be necessary to effectively decrease populations of C. Cayetanensis.
There are broad issues we should be focusing on as the outbreak continues to spread, now known to involve 34 states, and 7000 people (confirmed and suspected). This is undoubtedly a gross underestimate because the Centers for Disease Control’s tracking system has been decimated and because many people may not be tested or the special test required for diagnosis is not performed.
The outbreak is likely not due so much to one specific type of produce. Rather, it reflects problems with our agricultural system and growing failures in food safety.
How Is Produce Grown, Harvested, And Processed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeJwvAdJ-JU&t=8s
We rely heavily on irrigation systems. A 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey found that 45 percent of all water used as irrigation came from surface water. This is important because surface water can be easily contaminated, and it doesn’t take many organisms to cause infection. Contamination can occur from leaking septic and sewer systems, and from people’s waste and garbage. The Food Safety Modernization Act also allows growers to harvest produce up to four days after water is applied—giving any contaminants a chance to multiply.
We need to be examine all points in the chain from the field to the final purchase where contamination might occur.
Farm Workers
Most of our produce is grown and harvested by migrant farm workers. We should be looking at how they are treated and what their working and living conditions are like.
Amy Liebman, MPA, is Chief Program Officer for Migrant Clinicians Network. She explained that some of the problem traces back to the workers “being vulnerable to infectious diseases because of their living situation,” which they have little control over. Employer-provided housing is generally crowded; there is often poor sanitation. Drinking water may come from springs or wells. While wells are monitored before people move in, there is no requirement to check them again—leaving the risk that contamination could go undetected indefinitely.
When working in the fields, workers are supposed to be given water and bathroom breaks, particularly in the heat. Complaints of not being allowed adequate breaks are common.
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration mandates that there be one toilet and one hand-washing facility for every twenty (20) workers and that these facilities be within 1/4 mile of each worker. But who is monitoring?
Liebman emphasized, “I don’t think it’s the farm worker that is at the center of this. I think it has more to do with the crops being contaminated from other sources like irrigation water and then how we process and package our food.” She also spoke about “the fear that’s percolating through this population,” noting “workers being afraid to report anything, fear of losing their job, and fear of being deported.”
The farm workers aren’t provided with sick leave or with reliable access to medical care. Thus, they are the initial victims in this disaster, because of the conditions they are forced to work and live under. They are the proverbial “canaries” in this growing national disaster.
Our Faltering Food Safety Systems
The greater failure is the growing lapses in food safety monitoring, with responsibilities divided among several agencies.
As many know, the Department of Government Efficiency initiated huge cuts to federal agencies. The CDC initially lost 2889 of 9769 employees (30%). The (USDA’s) Food Safety Inspection Service (7,526 employees) lost 913 FTEs. The FDA was cut by 4,332, and the USDA lost 22,253 jobs.
Initial case detection is done by local and then state health departments, with reports then fed to the CDC and FDA for further analysis.
FoodNet, a sentinel surveillance system that includes 10 participating state health departments working with the CDC, USDA, and FDA, is one part of the safety system, focusing on active surveillance, with investigators contacting laboratories and estimating how much a disease affects the population (disease burden). It doesn’t detect or respond to an individual outbreak. FoodNet conducted surveillance for Campylobacter, Cyclospora, Listeria, Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), Shigella, Vibrio, and Yersinia. Since July 2025, reporting for all organisms except Salmonella and STEC became optional.
“By deleting cyclospora from FoodNet, the Trump administration cut off an important source of incoming information that, in this outbreak, might have provided an early warning of problems, or hints as to where the outbreak originated,” J. Glenn Morris, MD, MPH, Director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute explained.
Notably, the CDC’s Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria was also dissolved in 2025 when President Trump and DOGE dismantled the United States Agency for International Development. Because Cyclospora is a parasite, the outbreak is being handled by the CDC’s reportedly inexperienced parasitic division, rather than the foodborne and waterborne diseases group.
Renai Edwards, MPH, Director of Training for Migrant Clinicians Network, focused on other sources of contamination. For example, sewage or septic system failures can contaminate a field or a processing plant. Because of the size of the outbreak, she hypothesized that either contaminated irrigation systems or water used in processing will likely be the source of the problem. She also noted how much reporting, particularly from the CDC, is lagging, because “No one’s manning the boat.” Or, she added, “Maybe there’s one person who’s manning 50 boats instead of the one boat they had before.” She concluded, “We’re just going to see more and more of these things, and bigger than they have ever been in the past, and delays that could have stopped things sooner. It will just make it all worse.”
Besides the dismantling of our entire safety systems through cuts and restructuring from the Trump administration and DOGE, Liebman emphasized the personal policy changes. She concluded, ”I think from a public health perspective, our immigration policies are making it more dangerous-not just for the workers themselves, but for our community.”