Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) has launched a blistering attack on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the administration’s decision to shut down a long-running CDC program that tracked parasitic infections like cyclospora. The move, which took effect last year, dismantled the FoodNet surveillance system—a joint effort involving the CDC, USDA, FDA, and ten state health departments that had been mandatory since 1997.
In a letter sent to Kennedy last Thursday, Ossoff did not mince words. “Now a cyclosporiasis outbreak sweeps the nation. Your foolish and self-indulgent demolition of critical public health programs puts Americans at risk,” he wrote. The Georgia senator demanded to know whether the Trump administration plans to restore FoodNet, why tracking was terminated, and what epidemiological and food safety investigations are underway to pinpoint the source and scope of the outbreak.
Ossoff’s pushback comes as more than 1,600 Americans report symptoms of cyclosporiasis, including explosive diarrhea. The outbreak has hit multiple states hard, with Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky reporting the highest case counts. Cyclospora typically spreads through contaminated food or water, with leafy greens—especially lettuce grown close to the ground—serving as a primary vector due to their textured surfaces that trap pathogens.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment. But Dr. Dan Jernigan, former CDC infectious diseases director, told ABC that FoodNet had long suffered from “chronically low funding.” He cautioned that while it’s difficult to directly link the program’s termination to the current outbreak, the timing is troubling. “This is a big cyclospora outbreak, and it requires a lot of people to be involved. The staffing cuts, the 25 percent at CDC, that doesn’t help when you need to have a big response,” Jernigan said.
Jernigan also pointed to deeper resource issues, citing cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency to the president’s malaria initiative and programs for neglected tropical diseases. “Those were dollars that would come from USAID over to CDC when they were cut, that had a significant impact on the division of parasitic diseases and malaria, and so that means they don’t have the depth, they don’t have the resources, and they don’t have the surge capability that they would have had if the money for malaria and for neglected tropical diseases were there,” he added.
Last week, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins attempted to deflect blame, claiming cyclosporiasis “is an FDA issue, not USDA,” even as residents in multiple states grapple with the outbreak. The FDA has been investigating the source of the contamination, and on Sunday, Trump administration officials linked it to a lettuce sample from Taylor Farms. That test result was later retracted as a false positive—a development the FDA was quick to downplay. “FDA’s traceback investigation and outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico,” the agency said in a statement Monday. “FDA will continue to work with federal and state partners to investigate this multistate outbreak and ensure products implicated in this outbreak have been removed from the market.”
Meanwhile, the political fallout continues to grow. Ossoff’s letter is the latest in a series of escalating exchanges between Democrats and the Trump administration over public health policy. Taylor Farms has already expanded a lettuce recall as the case count climbs across 34 states. And three Ohio residents have filed a lawsuit against Taco Bell and the lettuce supplier, seeking damages over the outbreak.
Ossoff, who has been increasingly vocal on national issues, is not backing down. His sharp rebuke of Kennedy echoes a broader Democratic critique that the administration’s cost-cutting measures are endangering public health. Whether the FoodNet program will be revived—or whether the outbreak will force a policy reversal—remains uncertain. But with over 1,600 Americans sick and no clear end in sight, the pressure on Kennedy and the administration is mounting.
