This summer’s epidemic of exploding diarrhea has reached historic proportions. As of last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the Cyclospora parasite outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce has sickened 11,485 patients, including 495 hospitalizations and two deaths, across 20 states. And its not just Cyclospora. FDA is currently investigating 19 foodborne illness clusters, many of which involve other pathogens, such as Salmonella, E.coli, and Listeria monocytogenes. In a recent meeting with consumer advocates, FDA officials indicated there have never been more active investigations open at once. Bad policy accounts for at least some of the pain.

As exposed in recent reporting, Taco Bell’s foot-dragging stymied state epidemiologists as they winnowed down the list of potential food culprits to Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce. The fast-food giant took nearly two weeks to turn over records that would have been required within 24 hours under a food traceability rule put on ice by the Administration. When the source of the contamination became clear, Taco Bell nevertheless refused to name Taylor Farms, citing the need to protect “confidential commercial information.” Taylor Farms issued its own cryptic recall announcement two days later.

Taylor Farms then added to the delay. According to FDA, the company stalled for nearly a week before it identified the location of the farms in Mexico where the lettuce linked to the outbreak was grown. The “location description for the farm where the food was harvested,” is one of the “key data elements” required to be produced within 24 hours under the traceability rule. But again, the Administration delayed the rule.

Notably, the traceability rule was set to go into effect less than six months after the Administration announced it would delay enforcement for two-and-a-half years. Some large retailers, such as Kroger, had already required their suppliers to comply with the rule. In other words, industry had already invested in the recordkeeping systems and alignment that make compliance possible. One might have hoped that these preparations would have prevented the rule’s delay from significantly undermining traceback investigations. Taco Bell’s and Taylor Farms’ responses to investigators, however, suggest otherwise.

Presumably, Taco Bell and Taylor Farms could have met investigators’ request for records within the stalled rule’s 24-hour time frame. They are, after all, multi-billion dollar companies that play an outsized role in the U.S. food system. But for whatever reason, they chose to proceed on a different timetable.

Perhaps a relevant factor, in addition to the traceability rule’s delay, was the Administration’s decision to disband the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch. Formerly responsible for enforcement of food safety laws, the Branch brought cases like the criminal prosecution of Peanut Corporation of America executives following a 2009 Salmonella outbreak that sickened over 700 people. The Administration has largely abandoned corporate investigations and prosecutions, according to recent reporting. If you manage a large company, in the words of one former federal prosecutor, “you can breathe a lot easier.” Not so much if you want to eat fresh produce.