This summer, foodborne illness outbreaks have sickened thousands of people across the country. The massive Cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms, one of the nation’s largest produce suppliers, shows what can happen when so much food moves through one company.
Taylor Farms supplies food across the country through grocery stores, restaurants, schools, hospitals, and other businesses. When one company reaches so many people, a problem can quickly become a national public health crisis.
We need to stop building our food supply around a handful of powerful corporations and start rebuilding healthy local and regional food systems. That means safer food, more choices for consumers, thriving family farms and local food businesses, and real accountability for corporations and the government officials responsible for protecting the public.
Add your name to demand action.
Safer Food: Give FDA the resources it needs to prevent and respond to outbreaks, and require better tracking so contaminated food can be found and removed quickly.
Support Family Farmers: Stop unfair business practices that give a handful of powerful corporations too much control and make it harder for independent farmers and smaller businesses to compete.
Build Strong Local and Regional Food Systems: Invest in local and regional processing, storage, and distribution so family farmers have more places to sell their food and communities have alternatives to huge national suppliers.
Stop Taxpayer Dollars From Rewarding the Biggest Players: Reform farm subsidies and government food purchasing so public dollars support family farmers and local and regional businesses instead of driving more corporate consolidation.
Hold Corporations and Government Accountable: Strengthen safeguards against conflicts of interest between corporations and government, make it easier for the public to see who has access to decision-makers, and require FDA to publicly examine what went wrong after major outbreaks.