Susan Mayne, who led the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition from 2015 to 2023, frames the recent surge in cyclosporiasis as a clear example of the link between food safety and nutrition. The article reports that FDA is investigating six cyclospora outbreaks; to date, only one outbreak has been tied to shredded iceberg lettuce. Mayne emphasizes that protecting public health requires supporting both nutritional recommendations and robust microbial safety systems.
Mayne notes that many of the foods promoted for healthful dietary patterns are among those the FDA has identified as higher risk for microbial contamination. As part of implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act, FDA published a Food Traceability List that designates certain commodities for additional traceability obligations to aid outbreak investigations. Items on that list include cucumbers, herbs, leafy greens, melons, peppers, sprouts, tomatoes, other vegetables, and fresh-cut fruits, and it also names some cheeses. The author points out that these same items are often singled out by nutritionists and public-health campaigns as “real foods” to encourage for chronic disease risk reduction.
The essay catalogs several recent administrative and policy decisions that Mayne contends weaken the nation’s ability to prevent and respond to microbial foodborne disease:
Losses of experienced career employees at FDA and CDC, which diminishes institutional memory and interagency outbreak-response capacity; cyclospora investigations, she notes, differ from bacterial outbreaks and benefit from experienced teams.
Budgetary cuts at both CDC and FDA, which reduce federal support for state food-safety programs. Mayne cites states such as Michigan as taking on heavy burdens in the current outbreak response when federal resources are constrained.
Changes to the national foodborne illness surveillance program, FoodNet, including the removal of six pathogens from federal surveillance tracking; cyclospora was among those no longer tracked under the revised program.
A delay in the compliance date requiring industry to be able to trace high-risk foods through the supply chain; Mayne reports that the administration postponed the effort until July 2028, postponing broader traceability implementation.
Closure of a USDA agricultural research facility in Beltsville, Maryland, which included laboratories that worked on cyclospora research.
Disbanding the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria in Food, which previously provided food-safety advice to FDA and USDA on complex microbiological issues, including cyclospora.
Mayne stresses that it is the cumulative effect of these actions — staffing losses, budget cuts, surveillance narrowing, traceability delays, closure of research capacity, and loss of advisory expertise — that leads to a diminished food safety system.
The article describes how public reaction to outbreaks can erode confidence in nutritious foods. Social-media commentary and anecdotal responses have included people saying they would pick processed snack foods over salads following cyclospora and other leafy-green outbreaks. Mayne warns that the resulting behavioral shift — avoiding fresh fruits and vegetables — would be detrimental to public health if consumers believe they must choose between nutrition and safety. She argues that robust microbial food safety is required to maintain consumer confidence in healthy foods.
Mayne connects policy choices on climate to food-safety risks. She notes that warming environments and climate events such as extreme rainfall and flooding increase food-safety risks, citing the relationship between climate effects and pathogen contamination. The destruction of large volumes of contaminated produce also contributes to food waste; that waste, in turn, is an established contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions. The author uses the example of anticipated large-scale destruction of lettuce from Mexico to illustrate the downstream energy and environmental costs tied to contaminated product and its disposal.
Mayne concludes that the cyclospora outbreak should serve as a wake-up call for federal leaders and the public. She maintains that consumers should not face a trade-off between nutrition and food safety, and that protecting health depends on ensuring food-safety systems that support confidence in consuming fruits and vegetables. The essay underscores that “real foods” are vulnerable to real pathogens and that policy, funding, surveillance, laboratory capacity, and advisory expertise all matter in preventing and responding to outbreaks.
Susan Mayne, Ph.D., served as director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition from 2015 to 2023 and is an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Public Health. This essay first appeared on her Substack.