How the explosive diarrhea gets made

This is a useful story about the slow reveal of the source of the bacterial outbreak. The Trump administration seemed to allow Taylor Farms to delay warning the public and recalling its products while trying to stick Taco Bell (which AFICT acted responsibly) with the blame:

Then the White House got involved. The California-based food processor already had ties to President Donald Trump.

Taylor Farms gave $1 million to a political action committee supporting the president last year. Chief Executive Officer Bruce Taylor had attended an event with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and hundreds of agriculture executives, members of Congress, and federal staff just days earlier, celebrating 250 years of American farming at Mount Vernon.

The initial deadline for Taylor Farms to initiate the voluntary recall or take a product action — Thursday at noon — came and went.

Still, health agency officials continued to coordinate a statement they planned to release late in the day.

A pair of White House officials convened a call with the FDA and the CDC, according to people familiar with the matter. The White House aides asked administration health officials to walk through specific evidence linking the outbreak to the lettuce, and wanted to review drafts of the coming press releases.

Within hours, the White House agreed the patient surveys painted a clear picture, the people said. In an internal call, the White House aides approved statements from the public health agencies for public release — though they still only identified Taco Bell as linked to the outbreak, without naming Taylor Farms specifically.

Taco Bell moved first, releasing a statement. While it did not explicitly name Taylor Farms it said it believed “public health is a shared responsibility among restaurants, their suppliers, and authorities, and we are proud to have consistently acted quickly and proactively to protect our guests.”

The agency updates on the outbreak were finally posted after 10 p.m. New York time — hours behind schedule — and also omitted directly naming Taylor Farms or saying if the company would recall products.

One lesson that we never stop learning about the Trump administration: bribery works!