On September 11, federal health officials closed the books on the largest foodborne outbreak in U.S. history — a Cyclospora event that sickened more than 12,000 people across 21 states between June and that day.

By then, Gallup had already asked Americans how they felt about the food on their shelves. The industry didn't like the answer.

Only 65 percent of Americans now say they are very or somewhat confident that grocery-store food is safe to eat. That is the lowest reading Gallup has ever recorded, down from 73 percent a year ago and 81 percent in 2019. Confidence in the federal government to ensure food safety fell further: 47 percent, a record low, down from 68 percent in 2019 and 85 percent back in 2004.

The numbers translate directly into changed behavior. Seventy-three percent of Americans say they avoided certain brands or food types in the past year because of a recall or advisory, up from 53 percent in 2024. Forty-five percent threw out or returned food. Forty-two percent worried something they ate may have been contaminated — a Gallup trend high.

What does this change for operators?

It changes the math on the line. When nearly three out of four shoppers are actively avoiding brands over recalls, every menu item sourced from a flagged commodity — leafy greens, sprouts, deli meats, raw-milk cheese — becomes a quiet risk to traffic and ticket.

Marketing the safety case for a product now does more work than marketing the taste.

The column that lays out the alarm is by Bill Marler, the food-safety attorney who has tracked every major U.S. outbreak since the Jack in the Box E. coli crisis of 1993. Marler published a "Publisher's Platform" piece this week, pairing the Gallup data with 10 policy fixes.

His framing is blunt: "Confidence is not restored by press releases. It is restored by transparency, by prevention, and by accountability."

What makes this unusual politically?

The polling splits sharply by party on government confidence: 70 percent of Republicans say yes, 30 percent of Democrats.

But avoidance behavior does not split. Sixty-three percent of Republicans, 73 percent of independents and 81 percent of Democrats all say they have avoided foods because of recalls.

As Marler put it: "Salmonella, E. coli and Cyclospora do not check voter registration. Neither should food safety policy."

Where the federal gaps sit

Marler, who has filed three citizen petitions at FDA, points first at the surveillance gap. State health departments tallied the Cyclospora outbreak at multiples of the federal case count. The FDA's FSMA traceability rule, designed to let regulators trace contaminated produce in days rather than weeks, has been pushed to 2028 compliance by Congress.

He also targets Salmonella in poultry. USDA withdrew a framework to keep the most dangerous Salmonella levels out of raw poultry. E. coli O157:H7 has been an adulterant in ground beef since 1994, and "the industry adapted," Marler writes. Poultry can too.

On accountability, Marler asks: ten people died in the Boar's Head Listeria outbreak. Where, he wonders, are the DOJ and USDA Inspector General investigations?

Stewart Parnell went to prison for knowingly shipping Salmonella-tainted peanut products. "Nothing focuses a boardroom on food safety like the prospect of a federal courtroom," Marler writes.

What operators should watch next

• FDA action on Marler's pending petition to publish retail-store lists for Class I recalls.
• USDA's stalled Salmonella framework, expected to resurface in the rulemaking docket.
• The 2028 FSMA traceability compliance date, which will reshape supplier documentation across produce and ready-to-eat categories.

Marler's closing line is the one operators should pin to the break-room wall: "Lost confidence is earned back the same way it was lost — one outbreak at a time."

That math now runs through every supplier contract.