"Republicans campaign on the idea that government is incompetent, then they get elected and prove it."

In Trump's second term, the FoodNet program stopped tracking cyclospora. The CDC fired 70% of its parasite tracking team and lost 25% of its employees overall. The FDA lost 20% of its staff. The Department of Agriculture has lost 10% of its staff.

For over a decade, Taylor Farms has successfully lobbied to defund foodborne illness testing programs. By July 16, the CDC knew the exact origin of this cyclospora outbreak in 11 states. Taylor Farms said it needed more evidence that it was responsible. The outbreak has since spread to 12,000 people in 41 states.

Also during Trump's second term, Taylor Farms lobbied to delay a rule that would have helped the government track supply chain sources for foodborne illnesses. Just days after the rule's successful delay, they donated $1 Million to a pro-Trump Super PAC. They then donated another million to a House GOP Super PAC and then later that year Congress made the delay permanent.

This is the end result of deregulation and self-regulation. Every time the subject comes up I hear a counter-argument that goes like this: Agribusiness has a financial incentive not to poison their customers; the free market will reward the companies who operate ethically and punish the ones who behave badly. And yet not a single person can tell me which brands were affected by the salmonella outbreak that affected peanut butter processing in 2008 that killed 9 people. All those businesses are still in operation, BTW. You can't rely on the public to be well informed enough to track the safety of different food products. That's the whole purpose of the aforementioned government agencies.