By BILL BARROW and MIKE STOBBE, Associated Press<\/p>\n
ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Federal health officials have identified lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations across five U.S. states as a source of\u00a0a widespread outbreak\u00a0of diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora.<\/p>\n
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Thursday\u00a0warned consumers not to eat\u00a0shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. A record number of cyclospora cases have been reported in more than 30 states, and experts have said not every recent U.S. illness might be caused by a single source.<\/p>\n
A Food and Drug Administration investigation so far has identified a single supplier of the lettuce. The federal warnings to consumers did not identify the company, but Taylor Fresh Foods, of Salinas, California, said FDA testing indicated it was \u201ca specific independent farm\u201d affiliated with the company.<\/p>\n
The FDA was working with the supplier \u201cto determine if potentially contaminated shredded iceberg lettuce remains on the market,\u201d including in other states, the CDC said. \u201cTaco Bell has committed to stop using any lettuce from the supplier identified by FDA\u2019s traceback investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor Farms has been tied to foodborne outbreaks in the past. The company said in a statement Friday afternoon that it was voluntarily removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a family owned and operated company, we are deeply concerned for those who became ill, their families, and the many Americans whose trust in the safety of their fresh produce has been shaken,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Cyclospora_Outbreak__9611_faa236.jpg\")
This undated photo taken through a microscope provided by the CDC shows Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts found in a fresh stool sample, which had been prepared with a formalin solution and stained with safranin. (CDC via AP)
\nTaco Bell says it will use a different supplier<\/p>\n
CDC, FDA and public health officials in several states have been\u00a0investigating a multistate outbreak\u00a0of cyclospora infections.<\/p>\n
The illness is not usually life threatening and is typically treated with antibiotics.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, ahead of the federal government\u2019s confirmation, Taco Bell issued a statement saying that it had taken \u201cimmediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states. The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s possible other businesses could be linked to the outbreak<\/p>\n
In a statement, federal health officials stressed that other \u201cbrands, restaurants, retailers, or distribution channels\u201d could be tied to the outbreak as the investigation continues.<\/p>\n
Michigan investigators are trying to figure out if the lettuce went to other restaurants or stores because many of the ill people said they didn\u2019t eat at Taco Bell, state health officials said Friday.<\/p>\n
There is no evidence the outbreak \u201cis related to poor food handling or preparation at any single restaurant or fast-food chain,\u201d Michigan health officials said in a statement.<\/p>\n
For that reason, they continue to recommend that consumers purchase whole heads of lettuce instead of pre-washed, bagged lettuce or pre-mixed salad kits. Taylor Fresh Foods said in its statement that no Taylor Farms-branded salad kits contain iceberg lettuce.<\/p>\n
Some past outbreaks linked to the company\u00a0involved products\u00a0sold under different brand names.<\/p>\n
North Carolina health officials on Friday reported their count has now surpassed 300 cases, but said the recent illnesses there are not considered to be linked to the outbreak in and around Michigan. They said the most commonly reported foods include parsley, cilantro and lettuce, but it\u2019s not clear if those ingredients were the source of the infections, they said.<\/p>\n
Cyclospora cases have been rising for years<\/p>\n
Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea \u201cwith frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,\u201d according to the CDC.\u00a0Outbreaks tend to occur\u00a0most often in the late spring and summer.<\/p>\n
The heat-loving parasite infects the bowels and spreads through feces. In the past, people have been infected by consuming\u00a0fruits or vegetables\u00a0that were exposed to feces-contaminated irrigation water.<\/p>\n
The illness, called cyclosporiasis, is less common than foodborne illnesses caused by other germs, including salmonella and E. coli. Many cases are never linked to a specific food or other source and, for years, few U.S. cyclospora outbreaks were reported. But the number started rising about a decade ago, with a particularly notable spike in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n
Previously, 2019 saw the most reported U.S. cyclosporiasis cases, with about 4,700. The current surge has far surpassed that. Michigan \u2014 the apparent epicenter of the current outbreak \u2014 is reporting more than 5,000 cases, and more than 2,000 additional probable and suspected cases have been reported in other states.<\/p>\n
No deaths have been reported. But Michigan officials say more than 100 people in that state have been hospitalized, and health officials say dozens more have been hospitalized in other states.<\/p>\n
Experts attribute the increasing trend in cases to climate change and better detection. They also say it\u2019s likely that cyclospora cases historically were underreported, for several reasons.<\/p>\n
Some common tests used to check for food poisoning have not been geared to detect cyclospora. Technicians aren\u2019t able to grow the parasite in labs, making it hard to draw evidence from contaminated produce. And it can be hard to figure out what food sick people had in common because sometimes it\u2019s a single ingredient that might be common in multiple recipes \u2014 like basil or cilantro.<\/p>\n
Taco Bell and Taylor Farms have been tied to past outbreaks<\/p>\n
The FDA\u2019s traceback investigation identified a single supplier of iceberg lettuce from Mexico used by the Taco Bell locations where people who got sick ate, federal officials said.<\/p>\n
The Mexican food chain is among the\u00a0restaurants linked\u00a0to foodborne illness outbreaks in the past.<\/p>\n
Taylor Farms also was tied to a\u00a02013 cyclosporiasis outbreak\u00a0linked to salad mix and a\u00a02024 E. coli outbreak\u00a0tied to onions served at McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Stobbe reported from New York.<\/p>\n
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By BILL BARROW and MIKE STOBBE, Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Federal health officials have identified lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations across five U.S. states as a source of\u00a0a widespread outbreak\u00a0of diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Thursday\u00a0warned consumers not to eat\u00a0shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[6591,5158,1403,3085,3083,3086,3084,29675,29673,29674],"class_list":["post-34949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-michigan","tag-cyclospora-outbreak","tag-diarrhea","tag-michigan","tag-michigan-dining","tag-michigan-food","tag-michigan-grocery-stores","tag-michigan-restaurants","tag-taco-bell-cyclospora","tag-taco-bell-lettuce","tag-taco-bell-parasite"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117348005511346270","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}