Trump Admin Denies Colluding With Taylor Farms Over Cyclospora: 'FAKE NEWS'

The Trump administration has denied colluding with Taylor Farms after federal health officials reported and then retracted that a sample of lettuce from the company had tested positive for cyclospora amid a multistate outbreak. Taylor Fresh Foods Inc., the parent company of Taylor Farms, made a $1 million donation to Make America Great Again Inc. in March 2025, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) reviewed by Newsweek. That information was highlighted in a post on X from MeidasTouch, a progressive media outlet, along with reporting from The New York Times that said a Taylor Farms spokeswoman confirmed that company executives had met with White House and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials on Thursday to discuss what it viewed as "shortfalls in the FDA's and CDC's outbreak response process." The company has also recently hired former White House official Trent Morse, expanding its influence in Washington. In a response to the post, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) wrote on X on Monday: "This is how the FAKE NEWS works: imply collusion, ignore the facts. Nothing influences our decisions except science and the safety of the American people." The FDA said on Monday that while a laboratory test had incorrectly identified a positive result for cyclospora on a sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms, it did not change the basis for the agency's "ongoing outbreak investigation or the overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the current voluntary recall by Taylor Farms." According to FEC records, Bruce Taylor has personally donated $400,000 in 2025 and 2026, spread across several Republican-aligned PACs.