Taylor Farms, the produce supplier tied to an ongoing cyclospora outbreak that has sickened thousands across several states, poured millions of dollars into conservative political groups and food-regulation lobbying before and during the public health mess, according to federal records and lobbying disclosures.
Federal Election Commission filings show Taylor Farms donated more than $2 million to conservative political organizations in 2025. The total includes $1 million to MAGA Inc., the super PAC focused on Donald Trump, and $1.1 million to other Republican-aligned super PACs.
The company had already been writing checks. From 2020 through the end of 2024, Taylor Farms gave more than $1.6 million to conservative PACs, including $850,000 to AFP Action, a super PAC linked to the Koch network and known for opposing regulation. Bruce Taylor, the company’s chairman and CEO, has also been a frequent Republican donor. Since 2020, he has personally contributed more than $900,000 to Republican PACs and candidates, including Senator John Cornyn of Texas and Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
Lobbying focused on food safety rules
Disclosure documents show Taylor Farms hired Sidley Austin lobbyists in early 2025 to work on “regulation of food safety.” Since then, the company has spent $810,000 on lobbying.
Marion Nestle, a food policy expert, told WIRED that the spending fits a broader pattern in which large food companies use money and access to push against stricter safety rules and limit accountability when outbreaks happen. Nestle said FDA rules already tell producers what they are supposed to do, but compliance can be costly and difficult.
The US Department of Health and Human Services rejected any suggestion that Taylor Farms’ political giving affected the Trump administration’s handling of the outbreak. In a Monday post on X, the department said “Nothing influences our decisions except science and the safety of the American people.”
The regulatory fight is not just abstract paperwork. Taylor Farms has disputed parts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration response to the current cyclospora investigation. The company said the FDA “apologized” after announcing what Taylor Farms described as a false-positive test involving its lettuce. The FDA later told reporters that no official apology occurred. Taylor Farms did not respond to WIRED’s requests for comment.
Before that dispute, Taylor Farms executives met with White House and FDA officials to discuss what a company spokesperson called “shortfalls” in the agencies’ response. The New York Times reported that the meeting came after Taylor Farms hired Trent Morse, a former deputy director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, who left the Trump administration in September to launch a government relations firm.
A longer record with regulators
Taylor Farms, which WIRED reported brings in roughly $7 billion in annual revenue, has faced federal scrutiny before. In 2013, the FDA identified Taylor Farms as a source of a cyclospora outbreak that sickened hundreds. In 2015, the company voluntarily recalled products containing celery over possible E. coli contamination. In 2024, Taylor Farms recalled some yellow onions during an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders.
After that 2024 outbreak, CBS News reported that FDA inspectors found dozens of violations at the Taylor Farms facility in Colorado connected to the Quarter Pounder outbreak, including dirty equipment and limited handwashing.
Since 2025, the FDA has inspected 18 US plants affiliated with Taylor Farms. Three inspections ended with “voluntary action indicated,” a category meaning inspectors found violations but not ones the agency considered serious enough for mandatory enforcement.
Workplace safety regulators have also been busy. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited at least 21 violations at Taylor Farms facilities across the country since the start of 2025. In one New Jersey case, the Department of Labor fined a Taylor Farms facility $1.1 million after a May 2025 inspection that followed the death of an employee injured while cleaning an industrial blancher.
This story draws on original reporting from WIRED.
