Federal food safety leaders warn that budget cuts have weakened the country’s ability to detect and contain foodborne illness outbreaks. A surge in Cyclospora cases has raised concerns that a deadlier pathogen could go unnoticed.
Surveillance gaps leave outbreaks undetected
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s FoodNet program was established after four children died from E. coli in contaminated hamburgers during the early 1990s. The system tracked foodborne illnesses across 10 states and required mandatory reporting for six pathogens, including Cyclospora, listeria, and Campylobacter.
Under the Trump administration, funding for public health agencies was reduced by billions, and thousands of federal health workers lost their jobs. FoodNet’s surveillance requirements were scaled back, removing mandatory reporting for Cyclospora and five other pathogens that collectively kill hundreds of Americans each year.
Seattle-based food safety attorney Bill Marler said the changes allow outbreaks to continue unidentified. He has sued Taco Bell on behalf of customers sickened by Cyclospora and believes more people will fall ill as a result. “Inevitably, more people will get sick,” he stated.
Listeria, which kills up to 30% of those infected, was among the pathogens dropped from mandatory reporting. Nearly 95% of cases result in hospitalization, with complications including seizures, miscarriages, and organ-damaging sepsis. The CDC estimates it causes 170 to 260 deaths annually.
Neal Fortin, director of the Institute for Food Laws and Regulations at Michigan State University, said identifying listeria outbreaks is difficult. “Seeing it removed from mandatory surveillance is really concerning,” he added.
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In 2011, 33 people died and a pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage after eating contaminated cantaloupe. The FDA traced the source in less than two weeks. Experts now worry such rapid responses may no longer be possible.
States struggle under reduced federal support
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) disputes that the changes increased risks. The agency relies on passive surveillance systems, which depend on states voluntarily reporting cases.
The strain is visible in Michigan, which has reported over 7,000 Cyclospora cases—the highest in the nation. The parasite causes weeks of diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, and fatigue. In Washtenaw County, nurses reassigned from immunization and sexual health programs to handle a measles outbreak now spend hours interviewing patients. They comb through old takeout receipts, bank statements, and memories to trace the source.
Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical executive, said the state is seeing the consequences of an underfunded public health system in 2026. “Today it’s Cyclospora. Eventually, we’ll lose the ability to detect something else.”
If the next pathogen is more lethal, the gaps in surveillance could mean the difference between containment and catastrophe. Another outbreak will happen, and the system may not be ready.
For now, the warnings remain unheeded. States are left to fill the void with fewer resources than before, leaving homeless individuals without coverage even more vulnerable to health risks.
