The “poop parasite” is disproportionately hurting women – and not just in the ways you’d think.
Cyclosporiasis, a food-born illness, has resulted in extreme and extended sickness in several thousand people throughout the nation, primarily in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. Sufferers of the illness chiefly grapple with bouts of severe diarrhea (hence its alliterative nickname).
This particular outbreak has been traced to Taylor Farms de Mexico, in particular supplies of its iceberg lettuce that were sold in both grocery stores and restaurants. Recalls for the contaminated produce were issued last week in 27 states. Other foods, such as raspberries and imported fresh herbs like cilantro and basil, are also being investigated.
Women account for the majority of reported cases (56%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) – likely because they are, research shows, more inclined to consume the sorts of food carrying the contamination.
But this outbreak also stands to add more to women’s mental loads, as the primary grocery shoppers of U.S. households and families. Surveys by Pew Research Center show that, among homes without children, women do the grocery shopping 68% of the time – in houses with kids, that figure goes up to 80%.
In addition, helping children maintain healthy, balanced diets is already an uphill battle. About half of all kids in the U.S. will go days without consuming one vegetable. Experts attribute this to a mix of factors, from picky eating to increasingly eating outside of the home as they grow older. And this, too, is largely a problem women are left to solve – Pew’s study also showed that they coordinate their families’ meals 80% of the time.
So… What Do We Do?
The CDC offered guidance around how best to avoid falling ill amid the ongoing outbreak – namely, regularly washing hands and cleaning kitchen surfaces, disposing of potentially contaminated produce at home (look for Taylor Fresh Foods as well as Taylor Farms on labels), and asking about the sourcing at the grocery stores and restaurants you solicit. In our household, canned and frozen vegetables have become staples, too.
Beyond that, there is another way we can avoid this in the future: Vote.
I know this will induce eyerolls – the suggestion of voting as a solution is often mocked, even memed. But here, it applies.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a statement over the weekend that a positive test of a lettuce sample taken from Taylor Farms de Mexico was to be disregarded. That said, they still link the outbreak to lettuce shipped from that location. There are also reports circling about Taylor Farms CEO Bruce Taylor making donations to President Donald Trump just before the FDA announcement, though those have not been verified.
If that sounds confusing and alarming, but perhaps not surprising… you’re on to something. And therein lies another significant part of the problem: People are getting sick – they are “explosively” defecating – and we’re grappling with bungled messaging while wondering if our leaders are acting in our best interests.
In fact, the Trump administration has actively worked against the American people on this front – despite promises from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to overhaul U.S. food systems. During his second term, Trump made his approval of CDC and FDA messaging mandatory, fired nearly 100 workers at the Human Foods Program, and implemented spending freezes that left FDA staff feeling unprepared for the situation we now find ourselves in. The government had even ceased monitoring cyclosporiasis, specifically, not long before this outbreak began.
And, even if the reports about a suspiciously timed payout to Trump from Taylor turn out to be false, Trump has proven himself to be amenable to a quid pro quo in the past.
If we elect politicians who appreciate the value of quality-control processes and scientific information offered by experts in their fields – and, if those candidates are not susceptible to bribes – we could save thousands of people from weathering days, even weeks of illness and inconvenience.
All of the states where this current illness has hit hardest went for Trump in 2024. But this November, we have midterm elections coming up – and in addition to high-profile, federal-level runs for office, there are surely local races to get involved with where you live. The lower down on the ballot a candidate is, the higher the likelihood that what they do will directly impact you.
We need to make it our responsibility to learn who’s running, vocally champion the individuals we want in office, commit to making sure they satisfy campaign promises, and pressure them to do better where they fall short. And then, we women especially need to turn up to our polling places on Election Day (another thing we already do in greater numbers than men).
In addition to changing up recipes and investigating the produce section of your nearest market, we – white women, especially – need to engage with this maddening, imperfect process as much as we can.
It’s not the only thing to do, of course – but it’s certainly one of them. And our wellbeing depends on us doing all that we can. ◼️