Opinion & Contributed Articles

Publisher’s Platform: California Lettuce Was Never Implicated. California Growers Plowed Under a Third of the Crop Anyway. Here Is What the Trade Associations, Washington and the Rest of Us Can Actually Do About It.

Fix the finding and one farm takes the loss instead of ninety percent of the lettuce. Do that and you put me out of the fresh fruit and vegetable business, and I would go gladly.

By Bill Marler

/ 19 Aug 2026

Publisher’s Platform: California Lettuce Was Never Implicated. California Growers Plowed Under a Third of the Crop Anyway. Here Is What the Trade Associations, Washington and the Rest of Us Can Actually Do About It.

The last mile of a food safety recall: It is not complete until consumers are protected

– OPINION –

By Hal King

/ 19 Aug 2026

The last mile of a food safety recall: It is not complete until consumers are protected

The information deficit: Why slow data is making us sick – again

– OPINION –

By Guest Opinion

/ 17 Aug 2026

The information deficit: Why slow data is making us sick – again

Publisher’s Platform: Frank Yiannas Wants an Independent Board to Investigate Foodborne Outbreaks. Set the Airplanes Aside.

I have known Frank since his Disney days, through his ten years at Walmart and through his time at FDA, and I guest lecture in his food safety culture class at Michigan State every year. I want his board built. I want to argue with one part of how he sells it.

By Bill Marler

/ 13 Aug 2026

Publisher’s Platform: Frank Yiannas Wants an Independent Board to Investigate Foodborne Outbreaks. Set the Airplanes Aside.

Publisher’s Platform: On the Day CDC confirmed 13,895 Cyclospora cases, the Acting FDA Commissioner told Americans to feel confident about lettuce. We need leadership, not cheerleaders.

Leadership starts with doing something useful instead of saying useless things.

By Bill Marler

/ 11 Aug 2026

Publisher’s Platform: On the Day CDC confirmed 13,895 Cyclospora cases, the Acting FDA Commissioner told Americans to feel confident about lettuce. We need leadership, not cheerleaders.

Normalization of deviance: The real lesson of this summer's Cyclospora outbreak

– OPINION –

By Guest Contributor

/ 10 Aug 2026

Normalization of deviance: The real lesson of this summer's Cyclospora outbreak

Publisher’s Platform: I Have Been Told I Am Too Hard on Industry and on the Government. Here Are Fifteen Things They Could Do About Cyclospora.

I have watched administrations of both parties handle outbreaks badly. What is different this time is not the mistakes. What is different is that three weeks into the largest Cyclospora outbreak this country has ever recorded, nobody at the top has said the number out loud.

By Bill Marler

/ 7 Aug 2026

Publisher’s Platform: I Have Been Told I Am Too Hard on Industry and on the Government. Here Are Fifteen Things They Could Do About Cyclospora.

Publisher’s Platform: Recall readiness is assumed, never measured

The people who price the risk can change that.

By Bill Marler

/ 7 Aug 2026

Publisher’s Platform: Recall readiness is assumed, never measured

Publisher's Platform: Two Countries Are Now Warning Their Citizens About Travel to the United States. Britain Traced Forty-Eight of Its Cases to Mexico. The Cyclospora Count Is Still 22,683.

The UK Health Security Agency published new figures on July 30. Sixty-seven people in England, Scotland and Wales were reported with cyclosporiasis between April 30 and July 15 of

By Bill Marler

/ 4 Aug 2026

Publisher's Platform: Two Countries Are Now Warning Their Citizens About Travel to the United States. Britain Traced Forty-Eight of Its Cases to Mexico. The Cyclospora Count Is Still 22,683.

Publisher's Platform: Food safety is not expensive. Outbreaks are expensive.

USDA says Cyclospora costs America $5.3 million a year. The program I want restored cost $4.5 million a year. This summer alone has already blown past both.

By Bill Marler

/ 3 Aug 2026

Publisher's Platform: Food safety is not expensive. Outbreaks are expensive.

Publisher’s Platform: The T-Shirts Arrived. All of Them Say: Test Infant Formula for Botulism.

A t-shirt in a plastic bottle will not produce one either. But it is small, it is strange, it does not throw away easily, and it says the entire argument in one line. Sometime in September a staffer is going to unroll one and read it out loud. That is the whole idea.

By Bill Marler

/ 2 Aug 2026

Publisher’s Platform: The T-Shirts Arrived. All of Them Say: Test Infant Formula for Botulism.

Publisher's Platform: The Fifty-State Cyclospora count is 20,927 this morning. The President has said one thing about it. The Secretary says it is under control. Here is what they should have said instead.

Ohio released new numbers today — 4,013 cases in 80 counties, up from 2,576 a week ago. Add the states up, one by one, all fifty of them, and the floor under this outbreak this morning is 20,927 people.

By Bill Marler

/ 31 Jul 2026

Publisher's Platform: The Fifty-State Cyclospora count is 20,927 this morning. The President has said one thing about it. The Secretary says it is under control. Here is what they should have said instead.

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Opinion & Contributed Articles

Publisher’s Platform: California Lettuce Was Never Implicated. California Growers Plowed Under a Third of the Crop Anyway. Here Is What the Trade Associations, Washington and the Rest of Us Can Actually Do About It.

The last mile of a food safety recall: It is not complete until consumers are protected

The information deficit: Why slow data is making us sick – again

Publisher’s Platform: Frank Yiannas Wants an Independent Board to Investigate Foodborne Outbreaks. Set the Airplanes Aside.

Publisher’s Platform: On the Day CDC confirmed 13,895 Cyclospora cases, the Acting FDA Commissioner told Americans to feel confident about lettuce. We need leadership, not cheerleaders.

Normalization of deviance: The real lesson of this summer's Cyclospora outbreak

Publisher’s Platform: I Have Been Told I Am Too Hard on Industry and on the Government. Here Are Fifteen Things They Could Do About Cyclospora.

Publisher’s Platform: Recall readiness is assumed, never measured

Publisher's Platform: Two Countries Are Now Warning Their Citizens About Travel to the United States. Britain Traced Forty-Eight of Its Cases to Mexico. The Cyclospora Count Is Still 22,683.

Publisher's Platform: Food safety is not expensive. Outbreaks are expensive.

Publisher’s Platform: The T-Shirts Arrived. All of Them Say: Test Infant Formula for Botulism.

Publisher's Platform: The Fifty-State Cyclospora count is 20,927 this morning. The President has said one thing about it. The Secretary says it is under control. Here is what they should have said instead.

Your Support Protects Public Health