Cyclospora outbreak may be worsened by food industry consolidation
Vegetables on display in a grocery store on August 15, 2025 in Delray Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images The cyclospora outbreak that has sickened thousands in the U.S. is drawing renewed attention to a decades long shift in how fresh food moves through the country. While investigators work to identify the original source of contamination, somefood safety experts say the industrys centralized sourcing and distribution networks after a wave of consolidation can help turn what once may have been an isolated contamination event into a multistate outbreak. “The general trends that have taken place in the food industry, the way in which food has been sourced, and then distributed has played some role here,” said Dr. David Relman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University. With the cyclospora parasites long incubation period, the difficulty in tracking its path and what some experts have criticized as a bumpy federal response have all played a role in the widening outbreak, some experts say the structure of the food system has also contributed.Relman said consolidation has changed both how produce is processed and how widely it is distributed. “Its possible that as food sourcing and distribution becomes consolidated you get pooling and then redistribution of