For months now the FDA and CDC have withheld from the public the name of the farm behind a deadly E. coli outbreak that sickened 89 people across 15 states.
Now, through a federal court case, the name has come to light. Taylor Farms, a prominent California produce grower, was the company that grew the romaine lettuce that sickened those people, hospitalizing 36 and killing one.
In federal court cases filed for residents in Missouri and Indiana, the company was named. Also, in amendments to five other cases, the name of the grower was added as a defendant. The three new cases, filed on April 17, involved two children and one adult, all of whom developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) – acute kidney failure.
The patients in the outbreak became ill after consuming salad at catered events or restaurants that served romaine lettuce grown by Taylor Farms. The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began investigating the outbreak in November 2024. The agencies closed the investigation in January this year. All of the patients were linked by whole genome sequencing (WGS) to each other. The investigation confirmed Taylor Farms romaine lettuce as the source of the outbreak, yet the CDC and FDA neglected to inform the public.
In February the agencies wrote reports on the investigation, which Food Safety News obtained earlier this month. The reports said that one grower produced the romaine and four distributors sent the lettuce to end users, but the names were redacted.
“The CDC and FDA closed the investigation on Jan. 15 with the confirmed vehicle being romaine lettuce, without alerting the public that Taylor Farms was the source of the outbreak,” according to Bill Marler, the Seattle food safety attorney who filed the lawsuits.
Taylor Farms owners issued a statement after their company was named in the federal court lawsuits:
“Taylor Farms product was not the source of the referenced 2024 E. coli outbreak,” a statement from the Salinas, Calif.-based company said. “We perform extensive raw and finished product testing on all our product and there was no evidence of contamination. Any reporting that connects Taylor Farms products to these heartbreaking illnesses is dangerous, irresponsible and unfair to the impacted families.”
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