Michigan Explosive Diarrhea Cases Triple In 5 Days

Nathaniel Weixel of The Hill looks at the fallout of the Cyclosporaisis outbreak, which even now is not over in Michigan.  Cases in Michigan rose 11% last week, despite an all clear from MDHHS.  This poses several challenges to public health and nutrition authorities' credibility:

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/6030799-rfk-jr-real-food-agenda-outbreaks/

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/08/13/michigan-officials-report-1400-more-cyclosporiasis-cases/91286981007/

Outbreaks threaten HHS ‘real food’ agenda
By Nathaniel Weixel - August 16, 2026

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants America to “eat real food” as a solution to the chronic disease epidemic, but that message is being lost amid outbreaks of foodborne illness and a health agency that has struggled with effectively tracking the sources and messaging about safety.

This summer has seen a record number of cyclosporiasis infections, with nearly 30,000 illnesses and two deaths. Other foodborne outbreaks have also emerged in recent months affecting fresh produce.

And Taylor Farms – the company at the center of the cyclospora outbreak – has now recalled prepared salsa, guacamole and other products containing jalapeños connected to a multistate salmonella outbreak.

While there are food illness outbreaks every year, the scale of what’s happening now combined with the Trump administration’s struggle to prevent them is leading to a crisis in consumer confidence that could undermine the administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.

“I think what we’re seeing is both the reality that we’ve got more outbreaks, and you’ve got the perceptual problem, and so that’s translating into consumers being increasingly concerned about fresh produce,” said Susan Mayne, the former director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Instead of fresh food, consumers opt for products that are more shelf-stable and less likely to be at risk for microbial contamination.

“So that directly undermines the goals of trying to get consumers onto real food,” Mayne said.

Any outbreak of foodborne illness requires careful public communication, experts said. There needs to be a balance in telling people which products to avoid without causing a panic and scaring people away from eating fresh vegetables.

But many Americans are continuing to wonder what they are supposed to do. They don’t know which lettuce is safe, and they don’t know if they can trust the Trump administration to be truthful about the outbreaks.

According to a recent survey, 40 percent of consumers have changed their buying habits in response to the cyclospora outbreak, and 47 percent said they don’t trust the FDA to handle it.

“You need to solve these outbreaks” to gain people’s trust, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “You need to be able to go back and say with certainty, this is how the contamination occurred. It happened obviously in Mexico. Is it contaminated irrigation water? What was it? Because only with knowing what it was can you then say, this is what steps we’re taking so it won’t happen again.”

The FDA has linked iceberg lettuce imported from central Mexico by U.S. produce giant Taylor Farms to nearly 10,000 illnesses across 17 states.

Nearly a month later, FDA on Friday said investigators were on the ground in Mexico to conduct an onsite inspection and sampling at Taylor Farms de Mexico in coordination with Mexican officials.

But there are other cyclospora outbreaks, and thousands of other cases across the country, meaning Taylor Farms lettuce is likely not the only source of the parasite.

“The core issue is a messaging and prioritization problem layered on top of real gaps in control,” Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first term, said in an email.

“When the public is told to eat more salads and fresh produce while being warned that much of the same produce can cause severe, prolonged illness, and authorities cannot yet tell people which sources are safe, the mixed message is not abstract. It is actively scaring people away from the very foods the campaign promotes,” Adams said.

Seeking to assuage concerns over the nation’s food supply, acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas said on CNBC recently that Americans should feel confident eating fresh produce, including leafy greens.

“We have the safest food supply in the world. Full stop,” Diamantas said.

He acknowledged that because of the large cyclospora outbreak, there’s a “heightened narrative” where people are more aware of foodborne illnesses, but he didn’t say if the agency was taking steps to ensure the food was safe to eat in the first place.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ “real food” campaign is based on the newly revamped food pyramid. It emphasizes animal and plant protein, fresh, minimally processed fruits and vegetables, and whole grains as part of the antidote to chronic disease.

“Highly processed food has hollowed out our health, driving obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and early death. The truth is simple: real food restores health,” HHS said on the realfood.gov website.

In his quest to promote healthy eating, Kennedy also recently launched a cooking show called “The Real Food Show.”

The show is intended to highlight that “cooking with real food can be practical, approachable, and affordable for every family,” HHS said.

But the types of food Kennedy is championing are also among the highest risk for foodborne illness.

There’s an ongoing outbreak of salmonella linked to fresh jalapeños from Mexico. Last month, nearly 1.5 million dozen white and brown cage-free eggs were recalled due to possible salmonella contamination.

A multistate outbreak of E. coli linked to frozen blueberries has sickened a dozen people, and a listeria outbreak in June linked to soft cheese killed a person, according to the CDC.

The outbreaks are highlighting longstanding weaknesses in food policy. Food safety and surveillance have been chronically underfunded and understaffed for years, and different agencies have different jurisdictions over the food supply.

“We have always had a fragmented approach to food safety in America. It’s something that a number of administrations have tried to address and have done so unsuccessfully,” said Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the CDC.

Advocates have also been raising alarms that major parts of the landmark 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act were being delayed or rolled back.

An Aug. 12 letter from the Safe Food Coalition called on bipartisan congressional leaders to remove an appropriations rider—championed by a prominent food retailer trade association— that prevents FDA from implementing traceability requirements for high-risk foods, including leafy greens, until July 2028.

HHS and Kennedy insist the cyclospora outbreak is under control; cases are falling in the hardest hit states, and Michigan recently lifted its warning on lettuce because much of the contaminated product is likely no longer available.

But public perception about safety also matters, and experts said the administration needs to do more to restore consumer confidence.

“Perception drives consumer behavior. So if we continue to have big produce outbreaks like we’ve seen this summer, that’s going to damage nutrition in ways that I’m extremely concerned about,” Mayne said. “I do hope that the administration takes that seriously. I learned firsthand from my years at FDA that food safety is critically important to support better nutrition.”

Note that everyone avoids mentioning the elephant in the room: importing food from Third World countries.

It is now apparent that MDHHS' August 6th "All Clear" was premature. Cyclosporaisis cases increased 11% last week, to 13,909. This suggests that at least one Cyclospora vector is still running hot.  And that the lettuce hypothesis is dead wrong.

Caveat emptor:

https://michiganadvance.com/2026/08/...eak-continues/

https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/keep-...ease-outbreaks

Michigan’s cyclosporiasis cases near 14,000 as outbreak continues
By Kyle Davidson - August 17, 2026

Michigan has documented 13,909 cases of cyclosporiasis, according to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, up from the 12,485 cases reported Aug. 6.

The department is issuing weekly updates on the number of documented cases with weekly updates on hospitalizations, as well as cases recorded in each of Michigan’s 83 counties.

A total of 314 people have been hospitalized with cyclosporiasis, up from 279 reported last Thursday. There have also been two deaths, which were reported earlier this month.

Cyclosporiasis has been detected in 73 counties. Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw, Ingham and Genesee counties have the highest number of reported cases.

The state health department announced on July 1 that it was investigating the outbreak, which is caused by the microscopic Cyclospora parasite and spreads through contaminated food or water. Symptoms can emerge two days to two weeks after exposure and include watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, cramping, bloating, increased gas, nausea and fatigue.

On Aug. 6, the state dropped its recommendations for residents to purchase whole heads of lettuce rather than bagged salad greens, and to remove their outer layers, wash the inner leaves and cook them when possible.

As new case reports slow and emergency department visits decline, the state recommends residents observe basic food safety practices such as handwashing, separating foods that could contain harmful germs like raw meat or unwashed fruits and vegetables during preparation, and cooking food to the proper temperature to kill germs.

On July 17, Taylor Farms de Mexico issued a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce products sourced from central Mexico. On July 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it is continuing its investigation into infections linked to iceberg lettuce from the region along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local health departments.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says its data suggests that the majority of contaminated produce is likely no longer available for consumption, though it advises residents to continue to avoid recalled lettuce.

The CDC is issuing weekly updates on cyclosporiasis cases, documenting 13,895 cases as of Aug. 11, with 10,455 cases – including many from Michigan – yet to be confirmed through laboratory testing.

The federal agency notes its reports do not include probable cases, which may result in lower case counts than those reported by state health departments.

The CDC is investigating multiple clusters of Cyclospora cases including a multistate outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce affecting 15 states: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Michigan remains the hardest hit state, with the CDC recording up to 6,999 cases.