A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia September 30, 2014. REUTERS/Tami Chappell/File Photo.
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO.com) – After this summer’s cyclospora outbreaks in South Dakota and the U.S., small farm advocates want regulators to support regional food producers instead of corporations. Investigators traced the outbreaks to Taylor Farms of Mexico, which supplied lettuce to fast food chains, other restaurants and grocery stores.
Farm Action Co-Founder Joe Maxwell said even though consumers have different choices in stores and restaurants, one supplier often provides many of those products. “Forty percent of the mixed salad kits in the country are Taylor Farms, 40 percent. So regardless of where you walk into, the likelihood is that you could be dealing with Taylor Farms. The restaurants and the others need to be asking more questions,” Maxwell said.
Taylor Farms is a $7 billion company with more than 25,000 employees, which Maxwell said creates too much consolidation and a lack of choice in the marketplace. South Dakota’s health department has reported 17 cyclospora cases this year. The CDC has reported nearly 11,000 cases nationwide since the outbreaks began in mid-June.
While a large portion of the lettuce sold in the U.S. is grown and produced by Taylor Farms of Mexico, Maxwell stressed the company did not create the consolidation problem alone. Maxwell said he believes policymakers are the ones who need to solve this issue. “Our government is the largest food purchaser in the United States, and it needs to focus its purchasing power on helping secure local and regional food systems and stop going to the one-stop shop of the Taylor Farms and the other big, concentrated companies,” Maxwell said.
The CDC says the best-by dates for Taylor Farms products have passed, and infected products shouldn’t be available in restaurants or grocery stores anymore. Taco Bell’s shredded lettuce got most of the attention during the outbreak, and the fast-food brand has said it’s no longer using lettuce from Taylor Farms.
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