Shadowing Practice: Why The U.S. Is Struggling To Keep Food Safe - Learn English Speaking with Video
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So this is the largest outbreak we've ever seen in history of cyclospora.
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Doge in general will go down as an unmitigated disaster, particularly in the area of public health.
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Experts are calling it one of the worst cyclospora outbreaks they've seen in the U.S. 47 states are reporting cases, and there is still no scientifically identifiable source. 1000s of people across the U.S. have fallen ill. One of the hardest-hit states, Michigan, is reporting more than 10,000 cases and at least two deaths linked to cyclosporiosis since the start of the outbreak.
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I've been in this profession for 35 plus years. We've never seen an incident. Certainly, not even with bacteria, but with with the parasite of this size.
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Now, all eyes are on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, an agency that has been without permanent leadership since mid-May and is still in search of a new commissioner. That's right around the time the first cases of cyclospora started popping up. Pressure has been mounting since the agency identified lettuce distributed by Taylor Farms as a possible source of the outbreak, why did it take so long for us to hear from federal authorities? When once it's a multi-state event, they should be leading in quickly.
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The FDA later said the sample of iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms was a false positive, something that is common in the scientific process, but only added to confusion. Fear around the outbreak is also weighing on fast food stocks. Yum Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, Sweetgreen, and Kava, all saw their stock prices drop on news of the outbreak.
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This is a general problem right now in the United States that became a lot worse beginning early 2025 with the current administration.
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I'm Brandan Gomez. I cover food and wellness here at CNBC, and I spoke to some of the country's top experts in food safety, who say the upheaval at the FDA is just the tip of the iceberg. The problem with tracking cyclospora is that it isn't a bacteria like E. coli or Salmonella. It's a parasite. Parasites don't reproduce on surfaces like bacteria do, so figuring out what foods are contaminated can be a long and difficult process.
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And by the time it's identified, 1000s of people could already be sick.
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While we've gotten much better at detecting infectious agents in samples from humans, we still are not great at detecting microbes in environmental samples.
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Dr. Relman went on to say, there's a chance we get to the end of the outbreak and never truly identify the source. And the timeline for identifying an infected batch could take weeks.
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Lettuce has a short shelf life. By the time someone buys the lettuce, eats it, shows symptoms, and is positively identified as having cyclosporiosis, that batch of tainted lettuce has already made its way in and out of the food distribution system, making it more difficult to trace back to its original source. That makes the process for what's called traceback data even more important, and monitoring for cyclospora through that traceback data was already difficult before the second Trump administration.
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This past year, food net was cut to some degree, and the number and the kinds of organisms that they routinely track were reduced. And in particular, cyclospora was removed from the list of organisms that was a priority for them. The CDC used to report cyclospore cases on a weekly basis. They did not do that this year, and they're starting to do that now.
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When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took the helm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he promised to overhaul the U.S.
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food system. A former CDC director told CNBC the CDC's Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, lost 40 million dollars in funding following the dismantling of U.S. aid. He estimates the group lost one quarter of its staff in the cuts. These budget and grant cuts aren't isolated to federal agencies; they also impact the state's abilities to respond.
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There have been general cuts to staff at CDC, to their connection to outside expert panels, to state health departments, which have been under duress for quite some time.
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But what we keep hearing from experts is the breakdown of food safety in the U.S. didn't start with the Trump administration.
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While the cuts have hindered the agencies further, this has always been an overlooked and outdated piece of the U.S.
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public health system.
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You see the level of recalls that we're having, and people say, "Well, recalls are a sign that the food system is working.
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I say, "No, it's not a sign that the food system is working. Our effectiveness in pulling contaminated product off of the market is a success.
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The FDA's Food Center budget was 1.17 billion this year, or around 17% of the agency's 7 billion in total spending.
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Back in 2006, and we saw melamine in pet food and pets dying, and we saw spinach in 2006, E. coli, and then we had the Peanut Corporation of America outbreak. And then finally, you know, people woke up and said, "Hey, maybe there's more we can do to strengthen the safety of food for the American consumer. And we came together in a bipartisan fashion and passed FSMA. The Food Safety Modernization Act was signed in 2011, a law meant to beef up U.S. food safety requirements. The act included federal standards for produce handling, import oversights, and traceability standards, making it easier to track where contaminated food comes from.
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Clearly, we have not made the type of progress that we had hoped to make with the Food Safety Modernization Act. We should have had at our utility right now a food traceability rule in effect, and I have no doubt that if you talk to others, they'll say, "Yeah, if we had better traceability capabilities, we could have traced back and triangulated a source much faster.
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And it's that food traceability issue that is causing some concern in the private sector as more and more small food distributors are consolidating. Taylor Farms, whose iceberg lettuce has been linked to the cyclospora outbreak, acquired several smaller brands over the past seven years, think of the difference between one head of lettuce and a bag of chopped lettuce that may have come from many, many heads. Now you have huge companies from Walmart to Taco Bell to you name it using the same bag of lettuce, which itself may represent the pooled possibility of contamination from hundreds of heads of lettuce.
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Some experts say having less companies in the space compounds issues like the cyclospora outbreak when it happens, meaning any outbreaks and recalls are more likely to impact larger areas because of it. There's so much opaqueness in the supply chain. We really don't know where the ingredients come from and how they get into your products. And in a crisis, if you're trying to contain something, having that type of visibility and transparency matters.
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Understanding the U.S. Food Safety Crisis: Context for English Learners
The video dives into a major public health issue: a widespread cyclospora outbreak in the U.S. that’s sickened thousands, with no clear source identified. It explores challenges like outdated food safety systems, budget cuts, and supply chain complexity. This real-world topic is perfect for english speaking practice—it’s relatable, uses everyday and technical language, and keeps you engaged while learning.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- "Unmitigated disaster" – Describes a situation that’s completely out of control (e.g., "The storm left the town in an unmitigated disaster").
- "Tip of the iceberg" – Means a small, visible part of a much larger problem (e.g., "The lost files are just the tip of the iceberg; the whole system is broken").
- "Weighing on" – To cause stress or affect negatively (e.g., "Work deadlines are weighing on her this week").
- "Opaqueness" – Lack of clarity (e.g., "The opaqueness of the new policy confused everyone").
- "Beef up" – To strengthen or improve (e.g., "I need to beef up my resume before applying").
Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide for This Video
The video’s mix of conversational and formal speech makes it great for shadowing technique practice. Here’s how to tackle it:
- Listen first, then repeat: Play a 5-second clip, pause, and shadow speak it. Focus on matching the speaker’s pace and tone—notice how they stress words like "outbreak" or "FDA."
- Break down tricky terms: Words like "cyclospora" or "traceability" can be tough. Say them slowly, syllable by syllable, then speed up. This boosts improve english pronunciation.
- Emphasize natural flow: The speaker uses phrases like "that’s right around the time"—copy the way they connect words. This helps with conversational fluency.
- Practice with pauses: The video has moments of reflection (e.g., "I’ve been in this profession for 35 plus years"). Pause and repeat these to mimic natural speech patterns.
- Focus on intonation: When the speaker asks, "Why did it take so long?" their voice rises at the end. Copy this to sound more natural in questions.
By using these steps, you’ll not only learn new vocabulary but also master the rhythm of real English communication. Keep practicing—shadow speech is a powerful way to build confidence!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | we've ever seen · they've seen · I've been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are contaminated · was cut · aren't isolated |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.