Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Taylor Farms Recalls Jalapeno Products Due to Salmonella Risk; CNN Finds Taylor Farms Deflects Blame When Linked to Outbreaks; Transgender Athlete Debate. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 11, 2026 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:30:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, the death toll from the earthquake in Colombia is rising. At least 213 people have died and more than 1,000 are hurt after the worst quake to hit the country in a decade. And those numbers likely will rise, with hundreds of people still trapped in the rubble of those collapsed buildings. International leaders have promised to boost their aid operations there.

And in South Carolina, Alec Murdoch is asking a judge to dismiss the indictments charging him with murdering his wife and son. He's set to face a new trial in the spring after his previous conviction was thrown out. His legal team alleges a key witness presented, quote, "perjurious testimony and fabricated evidence."

And take a look at the shocking moment a tractor trailer slammed into an overpass in New York. The collision flipped the big rig on its side and left it lying across the highway. Thankfully, the driver wasn't hurt.

Happening now, Taylor Farms is recalling more than a dozen of its products because they include jalapeno peppers that may be contaminated with salmonella. The company's lettuce is linked to the outbreak of the cyclospora parasite. It's at least the fifth time the company has been directly tied to a foodborne illness outbreak and it has a long pattern of deflecting blame.

CNN senior investigative correspondent, Kyung Lah, has been taking a closer look at all of this and joins us now with her reporting. So, Kyung, what are you learning about Taylor Farms?

[11:35:00]

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, you may or may not recognize this name. Taylor Farms is a major U.S. food producer and if you go to the grocery store, you'll see the name on bagged salads and salad kits and other food products. It also partners with some big box stores and fast-food chains. So, we took a closer look at this particular company and its recent history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: This is the headquarters for Taylor Farms. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is private property.

LAH: OK.

LAH (voice over): Taylor Farms won't talk to us on camera today. We'd already asked for an interview and had not heard back. This is the company the FDA linked to the historic cyclospora outbreak; 6,000 sick, hundreds hospitalized, and two dead.

Here's what we wanted to ask the company. The government traced at least five different outbreaks directly to Taylor Farms in the past 13 years and a CNN review finds time after time, the company turned to a similar playbook, deflecting blame. How? By relying on negative test results to imply that Taylor Farms products are not responsible, even though investigators mainly find the source of outbreaks by figuring out what and where people who got sick ate.

BILL MARLER, FOOD SAFETY ATTORNEY: It's deja vu all over again. I sort of feel like we're on a repeat record.

LAH (voice over): This month, Taylor Farms said, according to the FDA, there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for cyclospora as of August 5th, 2026. We are confident in our food and food safety systems.

Let's rewind through the known outbreaks linked to Taylor Farms. 2013, eerily similar cyclospora cases connected to Taylor Farms salad. CEO Bruce Taylor said at the time, all our tests have been negative. And we have no evidence of cyclospora in our product. 2015, a multi-state E. coli outbreak. Taylor's public response, the tests were preliminary findings, and it looks like a false alarm. The FDA later said a product with Taylor Farms produce was the likely source. 2024, another E. coli outbreak traced to onions distributed by Taylor Farms. The company said it found, no traces of the bacteria. All Taylor Farms products in the market today are safe to consume.

MARLER: I think they have played a little bit fast and loose with the facts.

LAH (voice over): Food safety attorney Bill Marler has sued Taylor Farms a dozen times in multiple outbreaks, representing more than a hundred clients. He says the company implies its food may not be to blame by telling the public their testing found no trace of the microbes. But Marler says that doesn't prove anything.

MARLER: Taylor Farms is using those negative results to muddy the water. The scientists at Taylor Farms know better; that the products that get tested are not the products that people consumed. And I always say this, and it sounds like I'm making a joke, but people eat the evidence.

LAH: About half of America's domestic lettuce is grown here in the Salinas Valley in central California. It's also where Taylor Farms is headquartered. But the focus of this cyclospora outbreak is in Central Mexico at the Taylor Farms facility there, the same plant linked to another cyclospora outbreak in 2013. MARLER: It's the same facility. They're drawing iceberg lettuce in from the same area and expecting a different result.

LAH (voice over): Taylor Farms tells CNN, it invests more than 200 million a year in food safety. The problem is that nothing can kill cyclospora on fresh vegetables without cooking.

LAH: In the middle of this enormous outbreak, some of the nation's top food safety experts are gathering in this one conference in New Orleans. So, we've come here to talk to a consultant who has worked with Taylor Farms.

TREVOR SUSLOW, PROFESSOR, EXTENSION EMERITUS AT UC DAVIS: It absolutely feels like deja vu for all of us, for everybody.

LAH (voice over): Food safety expert Trevor Suslow says he's one of the scientists hired by Taylor Farms on this outbreak, part of the rapid response team to find what could have gone wrong at the facility in Mexico.

LAH: Is there a working theory right now?

SUSLOW: Right now, it's very difficult to come up with a working theory. If they're missing something, they want to know. And then they put in programs in place to correct that. And they've really built a strong program, you know, really progressively since 2013.

LAH: Would you open up a bag of Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce and eat it today?

SUSLOW: Yes, I would. If one assumes that that was the source, there's nothing been shipped for, you know, since mid-July. You know, it's either consumed already or it's gone.

LAH: Do you eat bagged salad?

MARLER: No.

LAH: Ever.

[11:40:00]

MARLER: No. No. Ever. No. When you've been with families who've lost family members to a bag of romaine lettuce, you do change your eating habits.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH (on camera): Taylor Farms did e-mail us a statement saying that the company goes above and beyond industry guidance or requirements for testing, and it added this, quote, "We have cooperated fully with regulators in any instance where food safety concerns were raised, taking corrective action were warranted. For this recall, we have acted voluntarily, moved more broadly than required, and will continue to be transparent as more information becomes available." Pam. BROWN: All right. Excellent reporting. Kyung Lah, thank you so much. Let's continue this conversation with Marian Nestle. She's a prominent food policy researcher and the author of "Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety." Thanks for being here again.

What do you think about Kyung's reporting there and Taylor Farms' history of deflecting blame when it has been directly tied to a foodborne illness outbreak? How does that affect an investigation?

MARION NESTLE, AUTHOR, "SAFE FOOD" AND NYU PROFESSOR EMERITA OF NUTRITION, FOOD STUDIES AND PUBLIC HEALTH: Well, what it tells me is that they're not taking it seriously enough. I mean, what I think of when I think of this was the really terrible spinach E. coli outbreak that occurred in 2006, where an organic producer in California produced spinach that had been contaminated with the toxic form of E. coli, and they were so horrified by what had happened that they called in leading food safety experts and they completely revamped their safety procedures, doing a lot of testing.

They tested before they shipped anything. They tested before washing and after washing. They were absolutely vigilant about food safety procedures because they were so upset by what had happened and they took full responsibility for it, and they never had another outbreak after that. I mean, they were doing what they were supposed to do. Taylor Farms isn't doing that, and we know they're not doing that because of what's happening. We're seeing the results.

So, there are two things going on here, it seems to me. We have a company that's not being vigilant enough about food safety, and probably, you know, I think the problem is probably the irrigation water. That's a tough one to deal with, but it has to be dealt with. And we don't have government oversight. There's not nearly enough inspection and requiring companies to follow the rules that exist.

BROWN: I'm wondering what you think also about just the consolidation over the decades across farming, processing, and distribution. Do you think that has left American food consumers at greater risk of contamination from just a single source?

NESTLE: Well, sure. I mean, if you're just buying your vegetables from a local farmer, the probability of those vegetables being contaminated is pretty small and isolated. Yes, there will be occasional problems. You'll get sick, but maybe not seriously sick the way that the cyclospora is making people and making so many people sick.

The larger a company is, the more it's got -- it owes its stockholders. Its stockholders expect it to make money and to make a profit, and one of the ways you cut costs and get higher profits is by not being as vigilant about food safety as you need to be.

BROWN: Well, that can backfire.

NESTLE: I mean, you would think that that strategy would backfire, and everybody would know it, but they don't do it. They don't do it unless they have to. BROWN: Just for the layperson who doesn't study food safety, how does this happen, and why are we seeing it more frequently this summer? I mean, I think a lot of us are like, wait, there was another outbreak, now there was cyclospora, and now salmonella. What's going on here? How does this happen?

NESTLE: Well, I mean, one, my hypothesis is we have an administration with a very seriously deregulatory agenda. The food safety agencies have been decimated by staff cuts. Nobody's minding the store. They might want to mind the store, but they can't because they don't have the personnel to do it, and I think food companies are aware that nobody's going to be minding the store, and so they get to cut corners. That's my hypothesis.

BROWN: How does E. coli and salmonella end up in this food? Like how does that happen, and how is it not caught before it goes out to the masses?

NESTLE: Oh, you don't want to hear about this.

BROWN: OK.

NESTLE: Cyclospora comes from human waste. Salmonella and E. coli mainly come from animal waste of one kind or another.

[11:45:00]

And if there are sources of untreated waste near where vegetables are being grown, the water that's being used to water the vegetables can have bacteria in it or microbes in it that are harmful, and that's the leading hypothesis for what's going on with the Cyclospora one is that there was wastewater that had human waste in it. This is just gross to think about.

BROWN: Yes. No, it is. You don't want to think about that when you're thinking about eating food.

NESTLE: No, especially vegetables.

BROWN: Vegetables are supposed to be good for you, not cause this, right? Do you -- I mean, what are you doing right now? Are you eating lettuce and vegetables? Are you changing your eating habits?

NESTLE: Absolutely.

BROWN: You are?

NESTLE: Absolutely. I buy my lettuce and my vegetables. I either grow my own, or I buy them from farmer's markets. I don't eat -- I'm not a major fast-food producer. I don't have to deal with enormous quantities of food. If you're dealing with small quantities of food, buy them from farmer's markets. Support your local farmer.

BROWN: There you go.

NESTLE: Always a good idea. BROWN: Positive message to end on, or just grow your own vegetables too. Marian Nestle, thank you for helping us understand what's going on here. We appreciate it.

And coming up, how controversy is pulling the WNBA and one of its players into a much broader cultural and political debate about transgender athletes. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00]

BROWN: Happening now. Off-court comments by a WNBA player is pulling the league into a culture war, and it started with Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever saying it was common sense to ban trans athletes from women's sports. She told ESPN, quote, "I think that I am here to extend love, but I also think with that love is truth, being honest, and I want to protect young girls in a locker room or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men." Well, that quickly got the attention of people on both sides of the debate over transgender athletes.

I want to bring in CNN contributor Cari Champion to further discuss. So, Cari, to be clear, no openly trans woman has ever played in the WNBA. League policy simply states that only women are eligible. What do you make of all of this?

CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR AND HOST, "FLAGRANT AND FUNNY WITH CARL CHAMPION AND JEMELE HILL" PODCAST: Well, you know, I think, unfortunately -- and I'm not going to say much ado about nothing, Pamela, but I will say it's really not an issue. There are no biological men attempting to really, truly try to play in the WNBA. There are no biological men trying to compete with women in the WNBA, not on the NCAA level, not on the Olympian level. So, if you can't play college sports, you definitely won't make it to the pros.

I think this is a conversation that has been brought up by certain people who want to use this league, and more importantly, political folks who want to use this league as their avatar to get their opinions off, to push narratives they want to talk about. And unfortunately, we're all falling for it because we're talking about it.

BROWN: Well, you do have two former NBA players, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, who are declaring for the 2027 WNBA, claiming for the draft there, claiming they now identify as women. This appears to be performance, publicity stunt, whatever you want to call it. The WNBA commissioner said that player eligibility remains the same and preserving the integrity of our game and ensuring fair competition will always remain among the league's highest priorities.

How likely is this move going to advance the league's discussions here? What do you think about that?

CHAMPION: I think that the PA, the Players Association, as well as the League will probably be a little more clear about what they mean by women playing in the WNBA. I think, unfortunately, those two retired players were looking for some attention and trying to prove a point. And they may have gotten the attention and proved the point they wanted, but they've just added to what I believe is such a disheartening time for a league that's been around for 30 years, correct? And it's still very young in terms of what a league should look like, a professional league should look like. And they have just gotten to the point where they finally have the attention that they deserve, that they've worked so hard for all of these years. And people are co-opting this message.

Now, Pamela, I know you know this, but when this league started, these women, it was sweat equity. It was for the love of the game. They were making maybe $15,000 a year, and they had other side jobs. They were doing it because they love to play basketball because there was no professional league for women.

And so, now we have people changing the entire conversation, and they don't deserve this. It's really unfortunate. And the true fans, the fans who have been here from the beginning, not these flyover fans who just joined, who are causing the ruckus, are really disappointed because there's some excellent basketball being played by these ladies, and they will continue to keep the main thing the main thing and try to quiet this narrative of what is a woman playing in sports.

I think we shouldn't even answer those questions. I understand Sophie felt like she had to say something, but there's no way in today's political climate that you can answer a question like that without someone else giving you some push and some shove about what you're really trying to say.

BROWN: All right. I want to turn to something else and these tensions that are spilling over onto the court. After Chicago Sky's DiJonai Carrington, who is black, was ejected over a foul against Cunningham Saturday, Carrington later posted on social media the words, quote, "white privilege" and tagged the fever. Some call this move intentional, which she denies. What is the impact to the league here in light of just the overall negative headlines this season?

[11:55:00]

CHAMPION: Yes, Pamela, great question. There's just, there's a race problem in the WNBA as much as there is a race problem in this country. It is now black versus white, a league that is 68 percent black, has players that are LGBTQ plus. They are very well aware of what's going on in the world and calling for a change.

I think what DiJonai Carrington did when she posted that, she was referencing something that happened to Sophie Cunningham. Now, when Sophie Cunningham did the exact same flagrant two foul on a player by the name of Jacy Sheldon about two years ago, she admittedly said that she became an overnight success. She grew millions of followers and this started a new type of career for her in terms of referring to her as the enforcer. This is Cunningham. And I think that what DiJonai was suggesting was that unfortunately her actual flagrant two foul could actually get her in trouble. I can't, -- you know, and I got to be honest, I can't say I know what she meant by that. But what I can say is that the commissioner of this league has a real issue and they have to talk about this in real words and talk about why these women are feeling this way. And there should be some sort of conversation about what you should and should not be allowed to talk about.

I just don't feel that it helps what the main thing is, is that keeping it the focus on basketball. And right now, they're not doing that. We're talking about everything else but basketball. And it is an unfortunate rinse and repeat cycle that has happened for the last year and a half, two years.

BROWN: All right. Cari Champion, thank you so much for coming on to share your perspective. We appreciate it.

And thank you all for joining us. You can keep up with us on social media and catch me today in The Arena at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. Inside Politics with Dana Bash starts after a quick break. We'll be right back.

[12:00:00]