A parasite that spreads through human feces on your salad has sickened thousands of Americans across more than 30 states, and the federal agency responsible for keeping the food supply safe still cannot tell you where it came from.

This is the story the headlines aren't giving you. The New York Post and TODAY.com are both running with the visceral angle — "explosive diarrhea" — while the Boulder Daily Camera editorial board gently reminds you to wash your greens. What none of them are pressing is the obvious question: why is the American food supply, overseen by a billion-dollar regulatory state, repeatedly contaminated with human waste?

The numbers are staggering and the reporting is inconsistent. TODAY.com, citing state health departments, puts total cases at roughly 5,000 nationwide with 843 CDC-confirmed and 86 hospitalizations since May. The Post, citing the same CDC, reports more than 800 confirmed cases with over 1,500 additional suspected cases. Michigan is the epicenter either way — TODAY.com reports 3,309 cases in that state alone, while the Boulder Daily Camera cites "nearly 1,000 instances in two weeks." Ohio, New York, North Carolina, and Illinois are also seeing surges.

The pathogen is Cyclospora cayetanensis, a microscopic parasite that infects the small intestine after a person consumes food or water contaminated with feces from an infected individual. Symptoms — watery, sometimes explosive diarrhea, bloating, cramping, nausea — can last weeks and relapse. The CDC says it is not transmitted person to person.

Michigan health officials say early evidence points to lettuce or salad greens, but they cannot rule out other foods. Past outbreaks have been tied to raspberries, basil, cilantro, snow peas, and bagged salads. The CDC says it is unclear whether the current state clusters are even connected.

So let's take stock: the FDA exists to safeguard the food supply. The CDC exists to track and contain outbreaks. Both are funded by taxpayers. Neither can identify what is making Americans sick, where it came from, or how to stop it. Again.

The Post framed the story as an urgent consumer warning — what to avoid, how to wash produce. TODAY.com ran the medical explainer angle with experts urging calm. The Boulder Daily Camera offered a gentle editorial nudge about salad season. All three buried the accountability question: who failed, and why?

"I'm annoyed at cyclospora," infectious disease expert Dr. Bruce Hirsch told WPIX, as quoted by the Post. "Cyclospora is contaminating the most healthful, delicious, seasonal foods there are." Annoyed is one word for it. Another is furious — at a regulatory apparatus that swallows billions and cannot trace a parasite from farm to table.

Every cyclosporiasis outbreak traces back to the same root cause: human feces on food. That points to sanitation failures somewhere in the supply chain — agricultural labor conditions, water quality, processing standards. These are questions the FDA is supposed to answer before Americans get sick, not after.

The press will keep warning you to wash your lettuce. The question is who is washing the system.