John Oliver said a fast food chain beat the federal government at crisis response.
He tore into the Trump administration over its handling of the cyclospora outbreak.
A late-night host delivered a blistering verdict on how America handled its latest food safety emergency. In his telling, the fast food chain at the center of the mess moved faster than the agencies paid to protect the public. The comparison was not flattering for anyone involved.
John Oliver compares Taco Bell’s response with the Trump administration’s
John Oliver handed federal health officials a humiliating comparison on Sunday. The Last Week Tonight host, 49, argued that Taco Bell outpaced U.S. medical authorities as an intestinal parasite spread through its restaurants.
“It does say something pretty grim about America, that when it comes to acting swiftly to prevent a public health threat, the current government just lost the moral high ground to f–king Taco Bell,” Oliver said during an expletive-laden eight-minute segment on HBO.
The cyclospora outbreak has hit nine states, including Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. Investigators traced it to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, one of the chain’s suppliers. Sufferers reported stomach cramps, nausea, fatigue, weight loss and violent diarrhea.
Taco Bell moved to contain the damage. The company assured customers it takes “your health and safety very seriously” and had pulled all affected Taylor Farms lettuce from its stores. It then invited diners back, promising to “see you in the drive-through.”
Oliver pounced on that last line. “No, you f—ing won’t,” he quipped. Still, he credited the chain for acting at all, which set up his real target.
That target was Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Oliver accused him of gutting the very agencies meant to handle this kind of emergency. According to the segment, the CDC has shed a quarter of its workforce under the Trump administration, including eight of the 11 scientists who tracked food parasites nationwide.
The remaining skeleton crew drew his sharpest line. “What, only three people now?” Oliver asked. He added that nobody should be able to fit an entire public health parasite team onto a porch glider.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF JOHN OLIVER’S TAKE?
