- Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb stated it was unusual for Taylor Farms to ask the White House to delay a recall announcement linked to a cyclospora outbreak.
- Gottlieb noted that during his tenure at FDA, the White House never intervened in similar food outbreak cases, such as E. coli in romaine lettuce or spinach.
- Taylor Farms argued to federal investigators that there was insufficient laboratory evidence linking its products to the outbreak and that the government overstated its responsibility.
- The recall process was plagued by confusing messages, including an FDA update that initially linked non-recalled lettuce to cyclospora, which was later retracted as a false positive.
- Taylor Farms stated that FDA apologized to them, but no public record of the apology exists, and later clarified the recall was still in effect with no further sourcing from central Mexico.