Latest / Culture Positive: An Infection Prevention Podcast / Jalapeños and the Chicken Disease
Transcript
- Ally: Welcome to Culture Positive, an infection prevention podcast where healthcare, public health, and real life meet. I'm Allie, and by day I work in infection prevention at an academic hospital, bringing my background in epidemiology and public health into everyday practice. Each week, We'll dive into healthcare stories, public health conversations, workplace realities, and the human side of this work. This is a space for curiosity, honesty, and hopefully some inspiration. I'm glad you're here. I am the only one in my family with a background in healthcare and public health. And if you're listening to this podcast, you are probably aware that healthcare and public health have seemed to take over the news recently. In particular, there has been a major focus on foodborne illnesses, our food supply, and what feels like an endless number of recalls. Honestly, it can be a lot to keep track of. I was talking with my brother recently when he brought up his beloved jalapenos. And I quote, How did jalapenos get the chicken disease? In the summer of 2026 alone, the United States has dealt with a major cyclospora outbreak, salmonella outbreaks associated with eggs and jalapenos, and an E. coli outbreak linked to blueberries. You can't help but think why does it feel like we're seeing so many issues with our food supply right now? My brother immediately wanted to know the why behind all of this. Why are these outbreaks happening? Is our food supply becoming less safe? Are we simply detecting more outbreaks than we used to? Are we seeing a deregulation in our food safety? And what role do public health funding, government policy, and the systems responsible for keeping our food safe play in all of this? In the G.I. Jane versus Cyclospora episode. Check it out if you haven't yet. I discussed the cyclospora outbreak itself, but with seeing more foodborne outbreaks occurring, there is more we can dive into. A mix of public health response, funding, government intervention, surveillance. and the system that brings food from farms all over the world to our plates. G.I. Jane, reporting for duty again. Let's get into it. clusters and outbreaks, we typically see a peak occur in the summer months. Warmer weather and climates help bacteria and other microorganisms grow and multiply. But in the United States, I believe something other than warmer weather is causing the spike in foodborne illnesses. Let's break down some numbers first. The summer of 2026 has broken some records when talking about foodborne illnesses. For Cyclospora, as of September 11th, 2026, the CDC has declared the outbreak over that was linked to the iceberg lettuce source from central Mexico and later recalled by Taylor Farms de Mexico. The case count for illnesses associated with this outbreak is twelve thousand eight hundred and eighty three cases with five hundred and seventy individuals hospitalized and two deaths reported. Now on to Salmonella. If you're like my brother, you were upset to hear about jalapenos being recalled. For the jalapenos, a total of 431 people were infected with the outbreak strain of salmonella, Javiana, with 57 hospitalizations being reported and zero deaths. It was traced back to jalapeno peppers from Sinola, Mexico, and distributed by Coast Citrus distributors with 91% of people who were interviewed. Reporting to have eaten at a Mexican style restaurant before they got sick. Meal dates range from June fourteenth to july sixteenth. And yes, that means jalapenos were associated with the salmonella outbreak. Which brings us back to my brother's question. How did jalapenos get the chicken disease? We'll come back to that later. Eggs are our next victim, with the outbreak of salmonella first being identified in April of 2026. Through investigation, it was found that shell eggs produced and distributed by Midwest Poultry Services were contaminated with salmonella. On july twenty second, twenty twenty six, Midwest Poultry Services recalled more than one point five million dozen shell eggs due to possible salmonella contamination. This outbreak investigation was closed september third, twenty twenty six. There were one hundred and thirty four cases, thirty-four hospitalizations, and zero deaths reported. And our last foodborne bug to round out the summer of outbreaks is E. coli. There was a multi-state outbreak linked to organic frozen blueberries from Chile. Based on epidemiological information, a total of 17 people were infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli. Illnesses started on dates ranging from may eleventh to august second. Eleven of the thirteen cases interviewed reported eating frozen blueberries. There have been six hospitalizations and no deaths reported. This is still an ongoing investigation. In just this summer alone, between four major foodborne outbreaks, we have had a total of 13,465 cases of foodborne illnesses with 667 hospitalizations and two deaths in the United States alone. For comparison, there were 895 cases related to foodborne outbreaks last year. That is crazy. So what's different this year compared to even last year that has caused such an uptick? Why does it feel like we're seeing such an increase? Myself and others have some thoughts on what's going on. Let's go back to 2025. In 2025, the CDC's workforce was reduced by approximately 3,000 employees, according to reporting from Wired. At the time, that was a quarter of the CDC's staff gone. Those reductions included personnel involved in laboratory and outbreak response activities. According to Joel Barrett, a molecular parasitologist and former team lead. Laboratory staff decrease from eleven people to three. Think about that for a moment. Cyclospora is a parasite that requires specialized laboratory testing, and investigating outbreaks requires collaboration between laboratories, epidemiologists, public health agencies, and healthcare professionals. And the amount of cyclosporic cases this summer, with limited laboratory staff, with a quarter of CDC staff gone? Imagine the workload that remained for people who are still there. The long hours, the testing, the coordination, the investigation. The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologist, or CSTE, conducts surveys examining the public health workforce. staffing shortages, turnover, and workforce retention have been ongoing concerns across state and local health departments since COVID-19. Interestingly, recent reports have found that one-third of public health officials and state health departments. Have left their positions since the Trump administration took control in twenty twenty five. Losing staff members, of course, means we have less people to complete the same task. That were expected with greater numbers, but it also means we're losing those with years of experience and institutional knowledge. Which leads me right into our next problem: leadership. The CDC was without a dedicated director for nearly a year until the Senate voted in early August 2026 to confirm Erica Schwartz to the role. The FDA, meanwhile, has not had a permanent commission since Marty McCary, who resigned in May. Lack of leadership and staff gives a perfect segue into a decrease in infrastructure. A January 2025 report from the US government accountability office found that the FDA conducted an average of nine hundred and seventeen foreign inspections per year from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty three, far fewer than the eight thousand three hundred and fifty three domestic inspections it conducted over the same period. But CBS News reported that inspections have fallen even further since last year's budget cuts. There are reports that Taylor Farms, Mexico, the facility linked to the cyclos war outbreak, had not been inspected since 2019. Just a reminder, this is the outbreak that caused illness to close to 13,000 people and contributed to two deaths. I mentioned budget cuts. Here are some numbers behind those cuts. In twenty twenty five, the Trump administration cut roughly twelve billion, billion with a B, in grants for state health departments, which are the first to respond to outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. I would know, as G.I. Jane when I was at the Massachusetts State Health Department. I did several interviews and investigations myself. Less money, more problems. And finally, the politics of it all. Interestingly enough, when I was doing research, traceability of food products has been an ongoing issue for almost 20 years. Our current system for tracking food goes back to 2002. The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 gave the FDA broad regulatory powers to protect the nation's food supply against terrorist threats and accidental contamination following September 11, 2001. During the Obama administration, the Food and Safety Modernization Act in 2011 was implemented to not just react to foodborne illness, but to also prevent it. This act works to intercede at each point in the food chain supply to help reduce contamination of food. Everything from overall produce safety to a foreign supplier verification program. This act also directed the FDA to create enhanced record keeping to trace high risk foods by January 2013. guess what? The FDA missed their deadline. There was actually a lawsuit by the Center of Food Safety, and the federal court ordered that the FDA needed to be in compliance and finalize their process by 2022. We are in twenty twenty six. This should already be enforced, right? I fear not. Congress agreed with the FDA that enforcement will now begin at the earliest in July of twenty twenty eight. If the food traceability rule does go into effect in July of twenty twenty eight, that will be fifteen and a half years from the deadline to enforcement. We have a dangerous mixture of burnout, lack of funding, and oversight, and strong leadership. And we may not be at the end of foodborne illness outbreaks for the year. The foodborne illness season can go into October. I did find it to be super interesting how intrigued the public was in Cyclospora. Aside from being a large outbreak, I realized a lot of people. have maybe never heard of Cyclospora. It's not a common pathogen to lead to that big of an outbreak. We may also continue to see more unexpected pathogens pop up because of changes made to FoodNet. I brought this up during the Cyclospora episode, G. Jane versus Cyclospora, but FoodNet, the foodborne disease active surveillance network, Conducts active surveillance of foodborne illnesses that helps officials monitor trends. And keeps a pulse on any changes in infection rates. Essentially, the network helps our understanding of foodborne illnesses and how we can best prevent them from occurring in the future. FoodNet was established in 1995 and historically conducted surveillance for eight major foodborne pathogens: Campylobacter, Cyclospora, Listeria, Shigella, Vibrio, Yersinia Salmonella. and shigotoxin producing E. coli, also known as STEC. No longer. Here comes the year of 2025 coming up again. Data collected on or after July 1st, 2025 for foodborne illnesses reporting became optional for all pathogens except Salmonilla and STEC. Essentially, we do not have a good pulse on what's going on in this country, foodborne illness wise, due to six organisms being cut from surveillance, one of them being cyclospora. in my professional opinion, if we still had FoodNet requiring reporting of all eight foodborne illness organisms, we would not have experienced such a large outbreak of cyclospora. At the top of the episode, I mentioned my brother asking how jalapenos get the chicken disease, aka salmonella. I hate to say it, but salmonella is not just a chicken disease. In fact, salmonella can spread through contact with contaminated water, soil, animals, or handlers of the food. This is true for foodborne illnesses in general. While we often associate salmonella, for example, with undercooked chicken meat. If there is improper handling or contamination of any food item, salmonella is possible, even for a jalapeno. So what can you do to protect yourself? As always, please wash your hands with soap and water, especially before and after handling any raw vegetables or fruit. Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly before cutting. Cook your fresh produce if possible. This is the most effective way to eliminate any sort of bug or organism that could be on your food. For our Huddle Corner, a section for some takeaways before signing off. While foodborne illness outbreaks are not a new problem, we had a record-breaking summer in the United States. In the summer of 2026 alone, we have had a total of 13,465 cases of foodborne illnesses. Public health staffing, funding, laboratory capacity, inspections, traceability. And surveillance all play a role in food safety. While it is safe to say that our systems are experiencing some challenges, we can all do our part in food safety. Make sure to practice good hand hygiene, especially before and after handling any raw vegetables or fruit. If you can cook your fresh produce and at a minimum, wash your fruits and veggies. Thank you for listening to Culture Positive. If you have any questions or ideas for an episode, please send me an email at CulturePositive Pod at gmail.com. You can also Thank you for listening to Culture Positive. If you have any questi Nope. find me on Instagram at CulturePositive Pod. Please like, share, and review the podcast wherever you listen. References for the episode can be found in the notes. Infection prevention is about more than policies and protocols. It's about people. Until next time, stay curious, stay compassionate, and keep building a culture that's truly positive.