RFK Jr says cyclospora outbreak is ‘under control’ after FDA recall reversal

Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, speaks about suspected healthcare fraud at the Department of Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington DC on 21 July 2026. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA View image in fullscreen Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, speaks about suspected healthcare fraud at the Department of Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington DC on 21 July 2026. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA RFK Jr says cyclospora outbreak is ‘under control’ after FDA recall reversal Health secretary says source has been identified despite experts warning infections are likely to keep rising Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr said the ongoing outbreak of cyclosporiasis – the illness caused by the cyclospora parasite that causes watery and explosive diarrhea – is “under control”. Kennedy made the remarks one day after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did an about-face on a 27-state recall of shredded iceberg lettuce, calling the reported product a “false positive”. “We have the outbreak under control,” Kennedy said at a press briefing on healthcare fraud, Tuesday. “We have done extensive forensics, epidemiological forensics, and we’ve identified the source of the outbreak. And the companies that are involved have all implemented a recall.” Thirty-four states have reported cyclosporiasis cases this summer, with the midwest heavily impacted, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although differing numbers from states and the CDC make comparison difficult, this is likely the largest cyclosporiasis outbreak ever documented in the United States. The most recent national data from the CDC, from last week , reported more than 1,600 confirmed cases and 5,100 pending cases of cyclosporiasis. By contrast, Michigan alone reported more than 6,571 cases, as of Tuesday . Experts have widely panned the CDC’s reaction to the outbreak as slow, and the predictable outcome of severe cuts made by the Trump administration. “We did cuts in the FoodNet program, but they were for redundant surveillance, and all the states will tell you that we’re still doing forensics,” Kennedy said during the briefing. It is true that FoodNet was not meant to respond directly to outbreaks. Instead, the program was designed to assess big picture trends in food safety. In 2022, FoodNet surveillance warned that cyclosporiasis cases appeared to be increasing. The Trump administration cut the program’s surveillance from eight pathogens to two, shiga-toxin producing E coli and salmonella, making surveillance of bugs like cyclospora optional. Additionally, the Trump administration cut $11.4bn in pandemic-era grants to state and local health departments, which had built out the capacity to investigate outbreaks, and fired roughly one-quarter of the CDC’s workforce. The administration also reduced the size of a federal lab dedicated to detecting parasitic outbreaks from 11 staffers to three, lo