CDC links Taco Bell lettuce supplier to nationwide cyclosporiasis outbreak affecting thousands

In the long and uneasy relationship between industrial food systems and public health, a parasite called Cyclospora has once again reminded Americans how fragile the chain between farm and table can be. Federal investigators traced a diarrheal illness affecting at least 1,644 people across 34 states — with Michigan alone reporting more than 5,000 cases — to iceberg lettuce grown in Mexico and supplied to Taco Bell by Taylor Farms de Mexico. The outbreak, which began in early May and spread quietly through the summer, prompted voluntary recalls and raised enduring questions about how a microsco