- Lawmakers from both the House and Senate sent a letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins on September 17, 2026, demanding that the Agency account for the shuttering of the majority of USDA’s Cyclospora research. Cyclospora contamination was the cause of the recent-multi state food-borne illness outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce.
- The letter, citing a recent Politico story, states that three research programs, which represent nearly all of the Cyclospora research at USDA, are on hold or have been terminated. The research was being conducted at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) in Maryland, which USDA plans to close as part of its reorganization plan.
- The letter disputes USDA’s funding cuts justification for two of the programs and states that USDA had represented to Congress that the research would continue despite the funding cuts. The third research program is on hold, reportedly because all the researchers involved do not intend to relocate to a new facility in Iowa.
- The letter requests that USDA immediately reverse its decision to “dismantle Cyclospora research at BARC” and asks USDA to answer questions related to the research, the closure of BARC, and the plan to relocate staff to Iowa.