Taylor Farms spent millions backing MAGA before diarrhea outbreak. Now they’re arguing over test results

Taylor Farms, the produce company that voluntarily recalled its lettuce amid the ongoing diarrhea parasite outbreak, has spent recent years donating millions of dollars to groups aligned with President Trump and the Republican Party’s agenda.

Now, however, with more than 10,000 cases of cyclosporiasis logged across the U.S., the company is publicly battling and privately lobbying the White House.

Taylor Farms, which on Friday voluntarily recalled iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico, has given prolifically to support the GOP, according to a WIRED analysis of federal filings.

The spending spree has reportedly included giving more than $2 million to conservative groups in 2025, including $1 million to MAGA Inc., a Trump-aligned political action committee, as well as more than $1.6 million to conservative groups between 2020 and 2024, including $850,000 to an anti-regulation PAC tied to the Koch brothers network.

Bruce Taylor, chairman and CEO of the company, has also donated nearly $1 million to Republican PACs and candidates since 2020, WIRED found.

All that reported support hasn’t necessarily smoothed things between the company and the administration.

“Nothing influences our decisions except science and the safety of the American people,” the Department of Health and Human Services wrote on X in a recent post, amid online speculation past support from Taylor Farms was swaying the Trump administration’s approach to the outbreak.

On Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration reported a sample of lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico tested positive for the diarrhea-causing parasite, only to later backtrack and declare the test a “false positive,” citing “the complexity in detection of Cyclospora.”

“FDA and state partners continue to collect and analyze product samples,” according to a current notice on the FDA website. “As of July 19, 2026, there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for Cyclospora.”

On Sunday, Taylor Farms wrote in a statement that “FDA apologized to us,” though an agency official soon told reporters it had not in fact given an “official apology” and was instead “providing factual information” about the status of the outbreak.

The Independent has contacted the White House, Taylor Farms and the FDA for comment.

Last week, the company told The New York Times it had met with officials at the White House and FDA to discuss what it called “shortfalls in the F.D.A. and C.D.C.’s outbreak response process.”

Further White House contacts may be aided by a reported addition to Taylor’s lobbying team: Trent Morse, the former deputy director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, who left the administration last year.

The lettuce company isn’t the only one taking issue with the Trump administration’s claims about the outbreak.

Mexico’s Health Minister David Kershenobich said on Tuesday that there is no evidence to suggest lettuce from his country is the cause of the cyclosporiasis outbreak.

Critics argue the Trump administration’s DOGE cost-cutting program, which slashed federal agencies and pushed thousands of experienced federal workers to accept early retirements, has hamstrung the government’s ability to inspect produce for pathogens.

“The cuts across food safety, in terms of public health, in terms of regulatory, in terms of research, have contributed to this,” Barbara Kowalcyk, director of the Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition Security at George Washington University, recently told The New York Times. “I don’t think it’s a direct cause, but it’s been a contributing factor.”