‘Not standard’ for Taylor Farms to ask White House to delay cyclospora recall, ex-FDA head says | US news
Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Sunday that it was “not standard operating procedure” for Taylor Farms to ask the White House to intervene as the company prepared to announce a recall tied to a major cyclospora outbreak.
Gottlieb, who participated in CBS’s Face the Nation program, was asked a question: report Taylor Farms contacted the White House in an attempt to delay the recall announcement as federal investigators prepared to publicly link the company to the multi-state outbreak, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“This was not standard operating procedure,” Gottlieb said. “And when I was at the FDA, that wasn’t standard operating procedure.”
“I’ve also dealt with outbreaks in lettuce and spinach, E coli outbreaks in spinach and lettuce. I’ve never heard from the White House on those issues other than conversations to keep them informed about what we’re doing, so they’re properly informed and able to respond to the questions they receive,” Gottlieb said. “So this is an unusual situation.”
Representatives of Taylor Farms contacted the White House, requesting more time for the government to publicly link the company to the outbreak, according to the Journal. The report stated that the White House asked FDA officials to join the call, while Taylor Farms argued that federal researchers did not have positive laboratory evidence linking its products to the outbreak and expressed concerns that the government was exaggerating the company’s responsibility.
The company sought the meeting after executives believed they were not getting sufficient clarity from the FDA about the evidence supporting the potential recall and its scope, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by the Journal.
The recall related to the cyclospora outbreak was filled with confusing messages. Iceberg lettuce was initially reliant on a single supplier, Taylor Farms de Mexico, which issued a voluntary recall.
But the FDA issued an update last week: romaine lettuce, which was not covered by the recall, tested positive for cyclospora. But a day later, the FDA deleted that line and said the test was a false positive. Despite the supplier’s cryptic statement, the FDA insisted that the recall was still in effect.
“Today the FDA apologized to us” expression Taylor Farms’ website read an apology, although there was no public information about it. The farm added that “at this time, the FDA has not identified a single positive product test result for Cyclospora.” A day after that, Taylor Farms announced that the recall was still valid and that they were no longer sourcing iceberg lettuce from Central Mexico for this growing season.
Federal health officials have spent weeks considering varying responses to the cyclospora outbreak, which has sickened thousands and can cause serious gastrointestinal illnesses; Officials and experts questioned both the administration’s handling of the investigation and Taylor Farms’ response.
