Health Secretary Robert. F. Kennedy Jr.’s call for Americans to “eat real food” to combat chronic illness is being tested by a parasite that’s driving consumers away from fresh produce.
The spread of cyclospora, a parasite that can cause explosive diarrhea, is prompting people to reconsider their fresh food choices just as Kennedy launches a cooking show that he says is “intended to show families how to cook delicious, nutritious meals with real ingredients at affordable prices.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Preventionsuspects that more than 20,000 Americans have been sickened by cyclospora. Alongside other outbreaks that have emerged in recent months, the trend is raising concerns that foodborne illnesses — and the government’s failure to prevent them — could undermine Department of Health and Human Services efforts to Make America Healthy Again.
“HHS is simultaneously telling Americans to eat more fresh produce and warning that eating the wrong fresh produce — without being able to tell people which — puts them at risk of severe, prolonged diarrhea,” Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first term, said in an email. “That mixed message is not abstract. It is scaring people away from salads and other fresh foods right now — the exact opposite of the ‘eat real food’ goal.”
