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From having worked in the food industry it does seem like Taco Bell took action long before USDA did fuckall about it, and they should have been the vanguard on figuring out the disease vector. The Bell is well aware of the brand damage that can happen from something like this.

They are trying to blame anyone except the trump administration for gutting the FDA and CDC.

All good points, but I specifically do think this case warrants some attention because A) obviously people will pay attention to the bigger name, but we should all know better now and B) other restaurants are affected, not just TB. The focus seems almost very intentional.

"didn't follow state standards they were supposed to follow" sounds like a good reason to blame JntB for the outbreak to me. 🤷 Maybe Vons fucked up too and should get more blame, but that doesn't let JntB off the hook.

Granted, my experience is in medical and pharma, but "its our supplier's fault" reveals that you have a problem with incoming inspection, risk mitigation and supplier qualification. (Not that I am making a judgement on this specific issue)

Also, didn't Taco Bell pull the produce from their menu *before* anyone got sick from them? Were any cases even linked to them yet?

EXACTLY. Everyone knows that cyclospora is always present in Taco Bell food, just as you noted. If people eat there, it's because they WANT to get sick, as is their right as Americans.

File Forbes in the trash heap with NYT, WP, Sinclair, CBS and Fox.

As a designer I’ve worked on the annual report of a large financial institution, and the “risk factors” section includes basically everything that could go wrong in the entire world

(Not just the salad places.)

Yeah this is an equivalent of a bus service saying a bus could get in an accident and affect the business, and then writing a headline OMG THE BUS COMPANY KNEW ABOUT TRAFFIC COLLISIONS.

Man buys fire extinguisher KNOWING his house is a fire risk!

"Reporter" is a misnomer to be honest. Forbes has been especially a blog site for a long time now, it's got all the prestige of Substack (but might still have less of a Nazi problem).

It’s like saying pandemic preparation exercises prove COVID was a bioweapon

Forbes is pay-to-play. Stop giving them oxygen.

So weird how the restaurant industry would ALWAYS be concerned about foodborne illness. I mean it’s not like an outbreak would be extremely costly. /s

Forbes is the populist vanguard now.

Pubco filings disclose material risks to its business. What a scoop

It’s exhausting

Forbes has long since lost any shred of journalistic integrity. Where’ve you been?!?!

this is a common tactic in “science and health versus corporations” journalism, and it’s specifically used to freak people out and make them click while not technically lying not surprising to see from Forbes, Your Dad’s Clickbait Farm

Someone is trying to kill Taco Bell as a company.

A real @michaelhobbes.bsky.social moment, the second you look closer at something reactionary it falls apart

Someone described this being like why "Spanish flu" has that name, and I can't stop noticing it.

If anything the risk was highlighted by them because they knew the food system was starting to fail under Trump.

I’ll do it again!

I love when you use your research powers to put dipshits on blast

I’m f it bleeds it leads. If it doesn’t bleed, stick a knife in it. Never blame the lack of regulatory oversight because Forbes.

What in the fuck happened to Forbes

Right. If you are involved in a car accident are you presumed guilty because you have auto liability insurance? But how could you expect the socialists at... Forbes...? to know how contracts and disclaimers work?

They’s obviously never say through a mandated ServSafe program.

Pretty sure it would be financial malpractice for a food service company to not disclose foodborne illness as a possible investment risk. Like, it's in the name.