Opinion & Contributed Articles

Publisher's Platform: Does a public swimming complex adjacent to Taylor Farms lettuce operation pose a Cyclospora threat? Probably.

Two hundred and thirty-five meters from the processing building — roughly eight hundred feet, a three-minute walk — sits Balneario Las Fajanas, a public thermal-water bathing complex with pools, water slides, changing rooms, showers, grills and picnic shelters, open every day of the year.

By Bill Marler

/ 24 Jul 2026

Publisher's Platform: Does a public swimming complex adjacent to Taylor Farms lettuce operation pose a Cyclospora threat? Probably.

Publisher’s Platform: The Traceability Rule was supposed to be law in January. This cyclospora outbreak started in May.

I have spent more than thirty years watching companies mistake a negative product sample for innocence. Product testing finds contamination when you are lucky. Cyclospora makes you unlucky more often than most.

By Bill Marler

/ 21 Jul 2026

Publisher’s Platform: The Traceability Rule was supposed to be law in January. This cyclospora outbreak started in May.

Publisher's Platform: Reap What You Sow

Fourteen years ago, the produce lobby decided it did not want anyone testing its lettuce. This summer it got a look at the world it asked for. You reaped what you sowed. It is time to plant something better.

By Bill Marler

/ 19 Jul 2026

Publisher’s Platform: The Largest Foodborne Outbreaks of the Last Fifty Years. Now Count the Sick with Cyclospora in Michigan.

Fifty years of outbreaks and the pattern does not move. We find out how big it was afterward, from a journal article, years later, when it is too late for the rule to matter and too late for the family.

By Bill Marler

/ 18 Jul 2026

Publisher’s Platform: The Largest Foodborne Outbreaks of the Last Fifty Years. Now Count the Sick with Cyclospora in Michigan.

Publisher's Platform: Sen. Klobuchar wants food safety programs the Administration cut put back

She’s right — and the cyclospora numbers are worse than her letter says.

By Bill Marler

/ 16 Jul 2026

Publisher's Platform: Sen. Klobuchar wants food safety programs the Administration cut put back

Publisher's Platform: We made the everglades a python buffet -- we’re doing the same thing to the salad bar

We made the Everglades a python buffet by looking away for twenty years. We’re setting the salad bar up the same way — one defunded surveillance program at a time.

By Bill Marler

/ 13 Jul 2026

Publisher's Platform: We made the everglades a python buffet -- we’re doing the same thing to the salad bar

Cyclospora: Seasonal nuisance or preventable problem?

The parasite's long incubation period makes it challenging for investigators to identify exposures.

By Frank Yiannas

/ 13 Jul 2026

Cyclospora: Seasonal nuisance or preventable problem?

Publisher's Platform: They stopped counting, and now they say they can’t see

If you want to make foodborne disease disappear, don’t investigate foodborne disease. That’s not a slippery-slope warning anymore. As of July 1, 2025, it’s the operating plan.

By Bill Marler

/ 10 Jul 2026

Publisher's Platform: They stopped counting, and now they say they can’t see

Publisher's Platform: 145? 2,000? 10? The Cyclospora Numbers Don't Add Up

The Cyclospora discrepancy isn't a scandal. It's a symptom. The cure is timely, transparent reporting, stronger federal-state coordination, and one accountable body to pull it together.

By Bill Marler

/ 9 Jul 2026

Publisher's Platform: 145? 2,000? 10? The Cyclospora Numbers Don't Add Up

Publisher's Platform: I asked USDA where the Boar’s Head criminal investigation stands – Here’s the 78-Page non-answer

It is damning. But it is not what I asked for.

By Bill Marler

/ 8 Jul 2026

Publisher’s Platform: The Safest Fourth of July in 250 Years

On the 250th birthday of a country that keeps, against long odds, getting better at feeding itself — that dream feels a little less far off than it used to. Happy Independence Day. Eat well and eat safely. We have earned both.

By Bill Marler

/ 4 Jul 2026

Publisher’s Platform: The Safest Fourth of July in 250 Years

Publisher's Platform: Nara, you knew what when? And, your words matter!

As the company that imported this formula from Europe, Nara had specific, federally mandated duties to find this hazard and make sure its supplier controlled it.

By Bill Marler

/ 2 Jul 2026

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Opinion & Contributed Articles

Publisher's Platform: Does a public swimming complex adjacent to Taylor Farms lettuce operation pose a Cyclospora threat? Probably.

Publisher’s Platform: The Traceability Rule was supposed to be law in January. This cyclospora outbreak started in May.

Publisher's Platform: Reap What You Sow

Publisher’s Platform: The Largest Foodborne Outbreaks of the Last Fifty Years. Now Count the Sick with Cyclospora in Michigan.

Publisher's Platform: Sen. Klobuchar wants food safety programs the Administration cut put back

Publisher's Platform: We made the everglades a python buffet -- we’re doing the same thing to the salad bar

Cyclospora: Seasonal nuisance or preventable problem?

Publisher's Platform: They stopped counting, and now they say they can’t see

Publisher's Platform: 145? 2,000? 10? The Cyclospora Numbers Don't Add Up

Publisher's Platform: I asked USDA where the Boar’s Head criminal investigation stands – Here’s the 78-Page non-answer

Publisher’s Platform: The Safest Fourth of July in 250 Years

Publisher's Platform: Nara, you knew what when? And, your words matter!

Your Support Protects Public Health