Cyclospora outbreak highlights push for locally grown food in Georgia

A nationwide cyclospora outbreak was linked to a corporate lettuce supplier. This has caused Georgia agriculture leaders to celebrate the value of locally grown food.

Joe Maxwell is the co-founder of the advocacy group Farm Action. He said the outbreak highlights a much larger problem with the country’s industrial food system.

“Forty percent of the mixed salad kits in the country are Taylor Farms,” Maxwell said. “Regardless of where you walk into, the likelihood is that you could be dealing with Taylor Farms. The restaurants and the others need to be asking more questions.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed more than 11,000 cases of cyclospora nationwide with nearly 500 hospitalizations and two deaths.

Georgia has different programs such as Georgia Grown and the “Meet Me at the Market” campaign to encourage buying from local farmers and producers. Advocates say knowing where your food comes from is the “ultimate safety net.”

Maxwell said policymakers need to rethink how the U.S. receives food because a large portion of the lettuce sold in the U.S. is grown and produced by Taylor Farms of Mexico.

“Our government is the largest food purchaser in the United States and it needs to focus its purchasing power on helping secure local and regional food systems and stop going to the one-stop shop of the Taylor Farms and the other big concentrated companies,” Maxwell urged.

The CDC reported that the infected products should no longer be available at restaurants or grocery stores because their best-by dates have passed.