I live and eat very very close to what has been identified as the source of the questionable packaged lettuce here in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. A student that tutored in multi-varaite algebra has an uncle working at the lettuce growing packaging plant in question.
We see no sign of the infection here. I doubt that they have fingered the corect culprit, and even suspect that the process is protecting a political donor stateside while accusing a convenient “usual” suspect.
I hate that.
It’s not “Mexican lettuce”. It’s “Private Equity” lettuce, sourced in Mexico.
Taylor Farms is a privately held, family-owned company. It was founded in 1995 by Bruce Taylor, who still serves as the company’s chairman and CEO today.
Taylor Farms is the world’s largest distributor of lettuce and has 30 processing facilities in North America and Europe. It’s a $10 Billion a year operation.
I doubt Bruce Taylor spent any time in a lettuce field.
intercst
Or that the fellows in the field spend any time in, say, the accounting department.
DB2
By definition, Taylor Farms does not qualify as private equity. It’s owned and run by the founder. It’s a private company.
Private equity firms pool funds from institutional or accredited investors to buy, actively manage, and eventually sell private companies for a profit. While the founder is personally involved and invested in the company’s long-term success, private equity groups don’t care about the business at all. They exist to milk the business and sell it quickly for a profit. Someday, a private equity group may buy the private company, Taylor Farms.
Taylor Farms may be guilty of bad practices (I don’t know) but it is not private equity.
Wendy
According to Wikipedia (which could be wrong) - “Taylor Farms was established by Bruce Taylor, a third-generation member of a family in the fresh produce industry.”
So I suspect he might have spent some time in the fields.
JimA
I hear you, but it’s very possible Taylor Farms is the source of the outbreak. They have a history of food safety issues, with at least one other linked to the lettuce facility in Guanajuato.
This outbreak seems different for a couple of reasons. One, there’s an abnormally large number of people shatting themselves. Normally, outbreak counts might reach into the hundreds, maybe low thousands. This one exceeds 11,500. And two, the Food-linked Diarrhea Administration walked back test results a day after announcing them. This is weird. Normally there are strict protocols to verify test results before making announcements. The organization was kneecapped when they got DOGEd, and now we’re experiencing the effects.
Staffing issues and incompetence aren’t the only problem. The FDA is holding up food safety regulations that could help prevent large outbreaks.
In 2022, the Food Traceability Rule was adopted to monitor and track food-linked outbreaks. The original compliance date was set for January 2026, but it’s been extended to 2028. Taylor Farms is one of the largest companies benefitting from the delay. How much did it cost them? A cool $1,000,000 paid to JTT’s PAC.
True dat times 2!
Perhaps the worst blow to food safety science was the administration’s elimination of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods, a group of experts whose recommendations have informed many major food safety programs. According to the Western Growers Association, a leading fresh produce industry group, that committee was a vital source of “objective and credible scientific recommendations