(1) Risk communication matters.
When federal agencies and state health departments are not aligned, the result is not transparency…it is confusion, fear and unintended economic harm. This approach can, and does, create a longer-term problem than the outbreak itself.
Vague warnings and inconsistent messaging about the potential sources of the outbreak create anxiety for consumers and the food industry while damaging commodities, companies and domestic producers that may have no connection to the illnesses under investigation.
Public health communication should help people understand and manage risk. It should not amplify panic or cast suspicion across an entire food category without providing the information needed to act.
(2) Cyclospora requires a coordinated national surveillance strategy.
This is not simply about restoring monitoring that existed before July 2025. We need a true surveillance network capable of identifying where, when and how Cyclospora is circulating in the U.S.
Where are infectious oocysts present? Which waterways, wastewater systems, environmental conditions and geographic regions create elevated risk? How is the organism moving through the environment?
The first step in prevention is risk characterization. We have the scientific and technological capability to do this today to protect consumers and our fresh produce industries (e.g., monitoring wastewater/water treatment facilities, surface water, imported produce). What is missing is a unified public health infrastructure and the commitment to build it.
(3) FDA must address both domestic and imported risk.
FDA has a responsibility to protect consumers by strengthening domestic surveillance and ensuring imported foods meet U.S. safety expectations.
When risks enter through imported products, broad and nonspecific “avoid fresh produce” messaging often does not harm the foreign producer. It harms U.S. growers, shippers, restaurants and produce companies that may have had nothing to do with the outbreak.
Cyclospora cannot be managed by identifying a food vehicle and shifting responsibility of a broader and more complex public health problem to the produce industry.
We need coordinated communication, meaningful surveillance, stronger import controls and public health accountability.
The produce industry has an important role—but it cannot solve a systemic environmental and public health problem alone.
