Cyclospora outbreak puts food safety cuts under new scrutiny
Health leaders warn federal surveillance cuts could slow detection of foodborne outbreaks as cyclospora cases surge in several states.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
A wave of cyclospora cases has pushed cyclospora food safety cuts into the center of a growing fight over whether the U.S. can spot the next foodborne outbreak fast enough.
Food safety leaders told KFF Health News they are worried that reductions in federal public health funding, staff and disease tracking could make outbreaks harder to detect and stop. Their concern is not limited to cyclospora, a parasite that has sickened thousands across dozens of states, according to CDC surveillance data cited by KFF Health News. They fear the next outbreak could involve a pathogen that kills far more people.
The U.S. food illness warning system is split among state and federal agencies. One key piece is the CDC’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, known as FoodNet, which was created after four children died from E. coli linked to hamburgers in the early 1990s.
FoodNet states contact laboratories for case information that can reveal when an outbreak is beginning. KFF Health News reported that, under changes made during President Donald Trump’s second term, the 10 participating states no longer have to conduct mandatory FoodNet tracking for cyclospora and five other pathogens.
What is cyclospora?
Cyclospora is a parasite that can cause cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness marked by frequent diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea and fatigue, according to health officials cited by KFF Health News. Symptoms can last days or weeks, and tracing cases can be difficult because investigators often must reconstruct what patients ate weeks earlier.
Michigan has reported more than 7,000 cyclosporiasis cases, the most of any state, according to figures cited by CBS Detroit and KFF Health News. In Washtenaw County, health department nurses have been calling hundreds of sick residents while trying to identify where the parasite came from through receipts, bank records and patient memories.
Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical executive, told KFF Health News that the state is seeing the effects of an underfunded public health system. “Currently it’s cyclospora. Eventually, we are going to lose the ability to detect something else,” she said.
Which foodborne illnesses are no longer mandatory in FoodNet?
KFF Health News reported that listeria is among the pathogens no longer required for FoodNet reporting by participating states. The FDA says listeria can kill as many as 30% of diagnosed patients, and CDC and FDA figures estimate 170 to 260 deaths a year from listeria infections.
Neal Fortin, director of Michigan State University’s Institute of Food Laws and Regulations, told KFF Health News that listeria outbreaks are hard to identify and that removing mandatory FoodNet surveillance for the bacteria disturbed him.
Campylobacter also is no longer mandatory under the FoodNet changes, according to KFF Health News. The bacteria is often linked to raw or undercooked poultry and causes an estimated 1.5 million illnesses each year. About 60 people in Idaho were sickened this year in an outbreak tied to raw milk, KFF Health News reported.
Health and Human Services disputed that the FoodNet changes or staffing reductions have raised the risk of missed outbreaks. HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard told KFF Health News that FDA investigators were not affected by staffing changes or workforce reductions, that the president’s fiscal 2027 budget proposes a $33 million increase for food safety activities, and that the CDC never stopped monitoring cyclospora illnesses.
Federal oversight was already under strain before the latest cuts. The Government Accountability Office reported that the FDA has not met congressionally mandated domestic and foreign inspection targets since 2018. FDA food safety inspections of manufacturers fell from 10,641 facilities in 2011 to about 4,500 a decade later, according to figures cited by KFF Health News.
Barbara Kowalcyk, director of George Washington University’s Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition Security, told KFF Health News that other CDC surveillance systems rely on states to report problems, with no fixed deadline for how quickly they must do so.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.