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What false positive cyclospora test means for outbreak, according to former FDA medical officer 58%
7/22/2026, 2:17:41 AM
BS Summary: This video contains 27 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Halo Effect, and Confirmation Bias, with Availability Heuristic as the most egregious example at 23.3% saturation with 133 hits. Analysis detected 1,302 faulty-reasoning hits from 571 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 54.8% and a BS Rank of 58% (8,551 of 19,908 videos). This video is worse (more manipulative) than 57.10% of the video peer group.
The FDA is still on the hunt to find the source of the Cyclosporiasis outbreak after the test from Taylor
Farms turned out to be a false positive.
Even with the false positive, the FDA is still doubling down saying signs still point to the supplier.
Taco Bell visits have dropped 19% and health officials in Michigan have topped 6,500 cases now.
So, joining me now is Dr. David Acheson.
He has more than 40 years of medical and food safety experience serving in prominent roles with both the US and Drug Administration and the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.
So, you know what's going on here.
Dr. Acheson, thank you so much for being here.
Let's talk about this false positive.
Why is the FDA doubling down on Taylor Farms?
>> Well, the false positive is is obviously very unfortunate.
I mean, it happens rarely, but it happens.
And the good news is that FDA recognized it and said, you know, they basically said we made a mistake.
So, the doubling down on this one is because part of the way of solving these issues is to talk to the people who got sick and sort of say, all right, where did you eat? What did you eat in the 2 weeks before you got sick?
And that those series of questions have identified Taco Bell and particularly the chopped iceberg lettuce as a very likely vehicle for some of the cases.
So, I think they're doubling down on that because they feel very confident they figured out a part of this.
I think one of our challenges today is like, have we figured out all of it? And I suspect we haven't.
>> Yeah, absolutely.
So, you know, to the consumer, is it safe to buy lettuce tonight?
>> In essence, it is safe.
I I mean, if you
look at the the billions of servings of fresh produce that are consumed every week in the United States, and it's a lot, is the vast majority of it is completely safe.
Um, obviously we know
one thing that was which was problematic, but I would not advise consumers to give up on salads, give up on leafy greens.
I mean, there's a lot of health value to that.
And, you know, frankly, the the the relative risk is low.
>> Finding the source now weeks after the outbreak, how hard is that?
>> It's hard.
I mean, that is that is the that's the million-dollar question, literally.
Is here we're dealing with an organism it's a parasite.
And when you eat contaminated food, it could take up to 2 weeks before you get sick.
It might be as short as 2 days, but it could be 2 weeks.
Um so, when you're going back and trying to find, okay, what did you eat 2 weeks ago?
I mean, many of us can't remember what we ate yesterday, let alone 2 weeks ago.
So, it's very very difficult to figure out.
The other factor that I think is important here is likely we're not dealing with just one outbreak.
I suspect there are other sources going on here, which we have yet to learn about.
>> All right, Dr. David Acheson, appreciate your insight.
Thank you so much.
>> Pleasure. Thank you for having me.
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