Lettuce supplier in the middle of an explosion of turbo diarrhea has spent millions of dollars influencing sentiment about food regulation and electing Donald Trump and other MAGA Republicans, according to public filings.
Taylor Farms contributed more than $2 million to conservative political groups in 2025, according to Federal Election Commission filings. That includes a $1 million donation to MAGA Inc., a Trump-focused super PAC, and $1.1 million to other super PACs dedicated to electing Republicans.
From 2020 through the end of 2024, the company contributed more than $1.6 million to conservative PACs, including a total of $850,000 to AFP Action, an anti-regulation PAC and relations with Koch network.
Bruce Taylor, chairman and CEO of Taylor Farms, is also a longtime donor to Republican causes. Since 2020, Taylor has personally donated more than $900,000 to PACs and Republican candidates, including donations to Texas senator John Cornyn and Tennessee senator Marsha Blackburn.
Like many large companies, Taylor Farms has also spent a lot of money on lobbying related to industry regulation. In early 2025, it hired lobbyists at Sidley Austin to advocate on the company’s behalf over “food safety controls,” according to disclosure documents. Since then, the company has spent $810,000 on its lobbying efforts.
Marion Nestle, a food policy expert, said that Taylor Farms’ contributions are part of a larger problem in the US food industry: that billion-dollar companies use their financial resources to push policies that would reduce food safety regulation and accountability when outbreaks occur.
“The FDA has regulations in place for what food manufacturers have to do, but nobody wants to do it—because it’s expensive and complicated,” Nestle told WIRED.
In a post on X, the US Department of Health and Human Services emphasized that Taylor Farms’ political contributions did not influence the Trump administration’s response to cyclospora outbreak.
“This is how FAKE NEWS works: it means conspiracy, ignore the truth,” HHS accounts published on Monday. “Nothing affects our decisions except science and the safety of the American people.”
Taylor Farms appears to have taken issue with the CDC and FDA to address the investigation into the current cyclospora outbreaks, which has injured thousands of people in many states. The company recently claimed that the FDA “apologized” after it announced a false test on a sample of Taylor Farms lettuce; The FDA told reporters that no, in fact, an official apology never happened. (The company did not respond to WIRED’s requests for comment.)
Before the false comments and non-apology, Taylor Farms executives met with White House and FDA officials to discuss what a company spokeswoman called “shortcomings” in the agency’s response. The New York Times reported that meeting followed Taylor Farms’ recent hiring of Trent Morse, the former deputy director of the White House’s Office of the President, who left the Trump administration to start a government relations firm in September.
The recent diarrhea controversy isn’t the first time Taylor Farms, which brings in about $7 billion in annual revenue, has caught the attention of federal regulators.
In 2013, FDA named Taylor Farms as the source of a cyclospora outbreak that sickened hundreds. In 2015, the company voluntarily recalled many products containing celery because they may have been contaminated E. coli. And in 2024, the company recalled certain yellow onions as part of E. coli explosion associated with McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. Following the explosion, CBS News reported that FDA inspectors found multiple violations at the Colorado Taylor Farms facility linked to the Quarter Pounder outbreak, including dirty hand washing and equipment.
Since 2025, the FDA has inspected 18 US plants associated with Taylor Farms. The third resulted in a “demonstrated discretionary action,” which means that although a violation was found, it was not severe enough to warrant mandatory enforcement.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited at least 21 violations at Taylor Farms facilities across the United States since the beginning of 2025. In one egregious case, the Labor Department. fined $1.1 million at the New Jersey facility due to violations. The May 2025 inspection came after a worker died after sustaining injuries while cleaning industrial bleach at the facility.
