As nearly 7,000 cases of cyclosporiasis—a parasite that causes explosive diarrhea—sweep across the United States, the corporate machinery of fast food is already pivoting. But this is not a story about a public health scare. It is a story about how systemic inequities, capitalist extraction, and the erasure of marginalized communities intersect when a crisis hits. The outbreak, still unlinked to a definitive source, has forced consumers—especially those in food-insecure BIPOC and low-income neighborhoods—to navigate a landscape where profit, not people, dictates the response.
How Arby's and Taco Bell Are Exploiting the Outbreak
Arby's, the sandwich chain known for its meat-heavy menu, has