‘Trump diarrhea’: US government faces heat as Taco Bell removes lettuce over cyclosporiasis outbreak
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Trump diarrhea’: US government faces heat as Taco Bell removes lettuce over cyclosporiasis outbreak")
Representative image. Photograph: (Pexels)
Taco Bell removed lettuce linked to a cyclosporiasis outbreak that has infected 1,644 people in the US. The crisis has also triggered criticism of the Trump administration’s handling of the health scare.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday (Jul 17) said that Taco Bell has removed lettuce from a supplier that is linked to an ongoing outbreak of cyclosporiasis in the country. The parasitic intestinal illness has affected more than 1,600 people across several states. An investigation as identified a possible connection between shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell outlets and reported infections.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1,644 people who tested positive for cyclosporiasis after reportedly consuming food from Taco Bell in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. At least 94 people have been hospitalised, although no fatality due to the infection has been reported.
“The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states,” Taco bell said in a statement.
While the supplier has not been publicly identified by either FDA or Taco Bell, The Washington Post named California-based supplier Taylor Farms as a potential source of the contaminated lettuce.
Is Trump to blame?
The outbreak has brought Trump administration under scrutiny, with health experts and Democrats saying US President Donald Trump’s health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr failed to contain the infection. They have alleged that the efforts to control the outbreak have been hampered by the administration under the banner of “government efficiency”.
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Actor and comedian Ike Barinholtz took aim at Donald Trump during his guest-hosting stint on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, linking the president to the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak in the US.
“I wanted to give the president the credit he deserves,” Barinholtz said sarcastically during the show on Wednesday before referring to the parasite as “Trump diarrhea.”
The actor described the outbreak as “hard to contain” while criticising the US response to the crisis. He pointed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) decision last year under the Trump administration to halt routine tracking of the parasite that causes severe diarrhoea. Meanwhile, Taco Bell is also facing scrutiny over a possible link to a reported parasite infection, according to The Mirror.
