Embattled US food provider Taylor Farms repeatedly failed to submit federally required workplace injury reports at facilities in the country between 2021 and 2025 according to a Reuters review published on Wednesday.

The major salad supplier is currently facing scrutiny over a cyclospora outbreak linked to its lettuce that has caused more than 10,000 reported illnesses and two deaths.

The California-based company is one of North America’s largest salad producers and supplies major retailers and restaurant chains in the US. The current outbreak was linked by US health authorities to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico, prompting a recall in July and an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Reuters found that at least 17 Taylor Farms facilities were required to file annual workplace injury reports during the five-year period, but only five to seven facilities filed their reports within the following year. The resulting reporting rate was well below the 78 per cent average for the industry, based on Reuters calculations using US census and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) data.

Taylor Farms acknowledged gaps in the electronic submission of its injury records and said they had been addressed. The company said employee safety was a “core operational priority” across Taylor Fresh Foods’ 30 facilities and 25,000 team members, and that it had invested in new workplace safety reporting software.

OSHA requires most workplaces in higher-risk industries to submit injury and illness records annually, with the deadline generally falling on March 2. Companies can face penalties of up to $16,550 for each reporting violation, although OSHA did not respond to Reuters’ questions about whether Taylor Farms’ reporting failures reflected inadequate enforcement.

The reporting gaps are significant because Taylor Farms has faced nearly $1.8 million in citations from OSHA and state safety regulators since 2021 over machine hazards, amputations and employee training failures, Reuters found. At least four facilities with missing or incomplete reporting records had experienced fatal or otherwise serious incidents.

Jessica Martinez, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, told Reuters that injury records were “an essential tool” for regulators and the public to identify and prevent workplace hazards, adding: “These records are not just paperwork.”

One case involved Taylor Farms’ plant in Swedesboro, New Jersey, where a worker died last year after being injured while cleaning equipment used to scald produce with hot water. OSHA later issued more than $1 million in penalties after finding the company had “willfully and repeatedly” violated safety requirements.

The workplace safety findings add to questions surrounding Taylor Farms as US authorities continue investigating the cyclospora outbreak. The FDA said on August 20 that 10,930 illnesses across 17 states were associated with the recalled lettuce, with 454 hospitalisations and two deaths recorded.

Taylor Farms has disputed some of the safety citations and said it has cooperated with regulators during the food safety investigation. The company told Reuters that its reporting gaps had been addressed and that it remained focused on employee safety.

The scrutiny is of some relevance to UK consumers following Taylor Farms’s expansion into Britain in 2025 through its acquisition of Chichester-based Natures Way Foods, a prepared-salads supplier employing more than 1,300 people. Taylor Farms said the businesses would retain separate supply chains and management teams, while the deal would provide a foundation for supplying retailers and foodservice customers across the UK and Europe.

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