In the long and recurring story of food crossing borders and supply chains to reach American tables, a single Mexican lettuce supplier has become the center of a multistate reckoning. Federal health officials confirmed this week that shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in five Midwestern and Appalachian states carried Cyclospora cayetanensis, a parasite that has now sickened thousands and hospitalized more than a hundred in Michigan alone. The outbreak is a reminder that the efficiency of modern food distribution — its speed, its reach, its seamlessness — carries within it
CDC, FDA Link Taco Bell Lettuce Supplier to Multistate Cyclosporiasis Outbreak
Over 4,000 people have fallen ill across multiple states with at least 102 hospitalizations in Michigan alone from cyclosporiasis infection.