Outbreaks show U.S. safeguard limits
Regulators straining to oversee Mexico product
By: Cassandra Garrison
Reuters
MEXICO CITY - Two food-borne illness outbreaks linked OT Taylor Farms have exposed a weakness at the hart of North America's food system: the United States is increasing relying on Mexico's produce industry, and regulators are straining to oversee it th keep consumers safe.
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Taylor Farms, the $7 billion company that supplies fast-food chains, major food distributors and grocers, recalled prepared products contaminating jalapenos on August 7 [2026] after U.S. authorities linked a salmonella outbreak that has sickened several hundred people to p;peppers imported from Mexico.
..... It followed a major cyclospioriaisis outbreak, tracked to iceberg lettuce Taylor Farms imported from Mexico, that has made thousands of people sick and caused two deaths.
..... The back-to-back incidents have revived concerns over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ability to oversee imported food, experts say.
..... The FDA's employment fell by 22% in 2026 compared to 2024, according to agency data, in part due to workforce cuts since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Foreign food-facility inspections by the FDA fell by nearly 13% in fistula year 2025, while imports have continue ti rise.
..... "Without question, the cuts are harmful to food safety," said Jennifer McEntire, founder of the U. S.-based Food Safety Strategy consultancy, as is "havng decerased oversight ot what's actulaly happening as outbreaks occure."
..... Teh FDA's pr4ess team, in a staement to Reuters, said front-line inspectors were not affected by federal workforce reductions.
..... "The FDA prioritizes resources based on risk and deploys personnel where they have the greatest public health impact," the agency said.
Reliance on Mexico
..... The United States imported less than $3 billion in agricultural products from Mexico in 1993, the year before the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. That level has increased by nearly 1,500% through 2025.
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Mexico now accounts for more than 20% of all U.S. food imports, according to Luis Ribera, an agricultural economy expert at Texas A&M University. The United States imported $16.1 billion in fresh produce in 2025, according to a university analysis.
..... "We don't have to wait for products to be in season for us to consume it year--round," Ribera said. "Having those partners s very important for the affordability of food here in the U.S."
..... Yet the same supply chains that keep U.S. grocery shelves stocked have also periodically exposed consumers to food-borne illness.
..... U.S. food safety investigations over the last two decades have traced outbreaks to imported Mexican fruit and vegetables, including peppers, cantaloupes, cilantro and leafy greens.
..... The outbreaks have prompted scrutiny of irrigation water, sanitation practices and food safety controls across the fragmented networks of growers, packers and distributors. The FDA has imposed safeguards in some regions, though those exporters, growers and processors in Mexico are already subject to U.S. food safety requirements.
..... However, there is no uniform certification policy requiring all Mexican product suppliers to demonstrate their irrigation water is safe before exporting to the United States, experts said.
..... Cristobal Chaidez, a food safety researcher at Mexico's Nation la Laboratory for Research in Food Safety, said agricultural water is a persistent vulnerability in fresh produce production in Mexico.
..... "During a drought, if a small farmer finds a water source, they might use it even if it's poor quality," he said, adding that food companies untimely bear responsibility for policing their supply chains.
Import alerts
..... Taylor Farms temporarily shut down the Guanajuato processing facility that U.S. officials raced to the cyclosporiasis outbreak.
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In a statement, the company said that its water sources are tested for fecal indicator organisms. "We have cooperated fully with regulators in nay instance where food safety concerns were raised, taking corrective action where warranted," the company said.
..... The ongoing outbreak of cyclosporiasis was not the first linked to Taylor Farms in Mexico. In 2013, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked restaurant-associated illnesses in Iowa and Nebraska to a bagged salad mix from Taylor Farms in Guanajuato.
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Historically, the FDA has respond to illness outbreak by placing particular products and regions under import alerts.
..... Firms that demonstrate compliance with additional safety, tracing, audit and testing requirements may qualify for the agency's so-called green list and avoid being held at the border without needing inspection first.
..... Yet the green list system does not apply broadly across Mexican agriculture, and the twin outbreaks involving Taylor Farms and Mexican produce have prompted questions about whether existing oversight tools are sufficient.
..... McEntire said import alerts and green lists are generally deployed after recurring problems emerge, and serve as one enforcement tool rather than a standard requirement.
..... "I don't think that t s the be-all and end-all to produce safety. It doesn't guarantee that there's still thorough understanding hat there's still thorough understanding and execution of these practices," she said.