Trump’s FDA insists explosive diarrhea outbreak parasite is removed from food supply – but cases keep growing

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The Trump administration is seeking to assure Americans that the U.S. food supply is safe again amid continuing outbreaks of deadly, diarrhea-causing cyclosporiasis.

Acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Kyle Diamantas said this week that America has “the safest food supply in the world.”

“Americans should feel confident in eating fresh produce including leafy greens at this point,” he told CNBC. “Cyclospora: contained, American food: safe,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a post on X alongside the commissioner’s news hit.

The comments come after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. told reporters the situation was “under control” and local health officials in Michigan – the state most affected by the parasitic illness – have said it’s OK for people to resume eating leafy greens. Contaminated iceberg lettuce was linked to the nation’s largest outbreak, which stretched across 15 states.

But not everyone is convinced – especially on social media – and there are now nearly 25,000 cases nationwide, federal data shows.

Acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Kyle Diamantas and the Department of Health and Human Services say the nation’s cyclosporiasis outbreaks have been contained. But cases are continuing to rise (Getty)

“Lies lies and more lies,” X user @RichSpence10 replied to the HHS post. “Eggs- recall, beef – recall. The list goes on.”

User @Hambone__PA posted the “Sure Jan” meme from The Brady Bunch.

Where the U.S. stands right now remains unclear. Officials have said there’s an expected delay in cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention due to the nature of cyclosporiasis. It takes up to two weeks for symptoms, including explosive diarrhea, to begin after eating something contaminated with the cyclospora parasite.

Iceberg lettuce has been pulled from store shelves and out of Taco Bell fast-food restaurants in Michigan.

Yet, the sources of several smaller outbreaks remain a mystery and officials in states outside of the Michigan outbreak have said cases are still growing, including in Texas and Florida.

Cases rose again in Michigan too, now nearing the 14,000 mark, including two deaths.

“We have one clear implicated food, but it doesn’t explain everything,” Susan Ringler Cerniglia, a spokesperson for the Washtenaw County Health Department in Michigan, ‌told Reuters.

Iceberg lettuce was traced to the nation’s largest outbreak of cyclosporiasis this summer. But sources of others remain elusive (Getty)

As investigators try to reassure the public, the U.S. is in the midst of its largest outbreak of cyclosporiasis ever. The U.S. typically only records up to 1,000 cases of cyclosporiasis per year, most of which happen in the spring and summer.

“This is unprecedented,” John Guzewich, who worked on food-borne disease outbreaks at the FDA from 1997-2011, told The New York Times.

This is the only outbreak he was aware of with deaths from infections, as two people in Michigan have died from the condition.