Food safety crisis deepens for Taylor Farms with salmonella outbreak

Taylor Farms, a major produce supplier and producer of finished food products in North America, is engulfed in a food safety crisis that's ensnaring some of the biggest consumer brands in the U.S.

Why it matters: The company — a critical supplier to stores like Walmart and Target and restaurants like Chipotle and Taco Bell — is connected to FDA investigations into multiple pathogens that have sickened thousands of people.

Catch up quick: Taylor Farms is recalling finished food products containing jalapeños as the FDA said Monday that it's tracked 345 cases of salmonella — including 36 hospitalizations — stemming from an outbreak linked to jalapeños distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors.

• Taylor Farms said that as of Sunday it was not aware of any reported illnesses linked to its products, is no longer sourcing from Coast Citrus Distributors, and was seeking alternative suppliers.
• But the salmonella outbreak overlaps with a separate crisis involving more than 6,300 cases of cyclospora contamination linked to Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce provided to the likes of Taco Bell.

State of play: The jalapeño-linked recalls from Taylor Farms involve a slew products at stores including Kroger, Target, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.

• Taylor Farms, in a statement to Axios, said it acted voluntarily in the recall, "moved more broadly than required, and will continue to be transparent as more information becomes available."

The impact: Experts say Taylor Farms — which was also linked to a 2024 E.coli outbreak involving slivered onions it provided to McDonald's — could face pressure from its client base over these incidents.

• "If you are a food retailer or restaurant that receives products from Taylor Farms, it may be worth reviewing their arrangement and considering changing suppliers to minimize contamination risk, as well as economic and reputational harm," Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, tells Axios in an email.

What they're saying: The company needs to conduct a stringent audit of its supply chain and implement rigid food safety practices, Jaydee Hanson, policy director at the Center for Food Safety, tells Axios.

• "They can go and see how their suppliers are producing product, and that's not hard to find out. It just takes time," Hanson says. "We should be able to produce leafy greens that don't kill people or make people sick."

What's next: Taylor Farms needs to engage in an active communications campaign to show the public it's taking action, food safety watchdogs say.

• "It is important to release safety and recall information to the public as soon as possible to ensure public health and well-being," Ronholm says.
• But "considering the company's well-documented history of recalls and attempts to deflect blame, it shouldn't be a surprise that they face multiple issues simultaneously," he adds.

The other side: Taylor Farms in its statement said it invests more than $200 million a year in food safety, calling it its "biggest area of funding by several orders of magnitude."

• It pointed to its 30-year history as a supplier, noting that it produces billions of servings of fresh produce in a year.

Friction point: The FDA, which is charged with overseeing food safety practices, has faced personnel cuts under the Trump administration that may impact its ability to address outbreaks like these, Ronholm and Hanson noted.

• "Adequate funding would ensure the FDA has sufficient laboratory infrastructure and capacity, along with well-trained inspectors to conduct thorough and expedited investigations," Ronholm says. "It would also allow for more inspections of foreign facilities."

White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Axios in a statement that frontline FDA inspectors were not affected by DOGE workforce reductions, and the White House has remained in close contact with the FDA and CDC to provide resources needed to help trace and contain recent outbreaks.

• "The president's FY 2027 budget request, moreover, actually proposes a $33 million increase for food safety activities to strengthen the CDC's domestic capabilities," Desai said.