Warren: Taylor Farms $1M Trump Donations Tied to FDA Rollbacks

Senator Elizabeth Warren accused Taylor Farms of using political donations to weaken federal food safety oversight, just as a cyclospora outbreak linked to the company's lettuce sickened thousands across 17 states.

In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday, Warren said Taylor Fresh Foods, the parent company, donated more than $1 million to MAGA Inc., a Trump-aligned super PAC, and another $100,000 to a related PAC in June. She alleged the timing lined up with two regulatory rollbacks that benefited large food producers.

"The sequence of events reveals the Trump administration's myriad missteps in responding to the largest cyclospora outbreak in U.S. history," Warren wrote. "Taylor Farms' attempts to influence the government's public health response are equally alarming."

The first rollback came March 20, when the FDA delayed a food traceability rule that would have set standard processes for reporting high-risk foods. Warren noted that less than a week later, Taylor Fresh Foods made the $1 million donation to MAGA Inc.

On July 1, the administration ended mandatory reporting of cyclospora and five other pathogens to the CDC's FoodNet surveillance system. Taylor Fresh Foods had made its second donation two weeks earlier.

Warren also questioned the FDA's handling of the outbreak. On July 18, the agency said a sample of shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms tested positive for cyclospora. The next day it withdrew the finding as a false positive. Taylor Farms initially claimed the FDA apologized, then removed the statement after the agency denied it.

"This sequence of events reveals the Trump administration's 'myriad missteps' in responding to the largest cyclospora outbreak in US history," Warren added.

The FDA still points to Taylor Farms as the source. The company recalled lettuce from its central Mexico facility and shut down the plant. The recall covered Marketside-branded product sold at Walmart and dozens of items distributed through Sysco and other companies, according to the FDA.

Taylor Farms said in a July 24 statement that the recall was voluntary and that it has "best-in-class" cyclospora prevention protocols. It stopped sourcing iceberg lettuce from the region.

Michigan, the hardest-hit state, reported 13,909 cases linked to the parasite as of Thursday, up roughly 11% from the prior week. State officials said the rise largely reflected a processing backlog and the worst may be over, according to Reuters.

Warren requested Kennedy answer questions by Aug. 27 on protocols for testing false positives and to provide communications between health agencies and Taylor Farms.

Acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas said this week the agency is confident all iceberg lettuce related to the outbreak has been removed from the market as of the July 17 recall.