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

On Friday, federal health officials confirmed what investigators had been tracking for weeks: a parasite outbreak sickening thousands of Americans could be traced to a single source—iceberg lettuce from Mexico supplied to Taco Bell by Taylor Farms de Mexico. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the connection after the Food and Drug Administration completed its traceback investigation, identifying the contaminated produce that had reached Taco Bell locations across five states: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Cyclosporiasis, the diarrheal illness at the center of the outbreak, first appeared in early May. By mid-July, it had spread to 34 states and sickened at least 1,644 people according to CDC counts, with 94 requiring hospitalization. But those federal numbers told only part of the story. Michigan's health department alone had documented more than 5,000 confirmed cases by Friday, with 102 hospitalizations—a figure that suggested the true scope of the outbreak was far larger than the national tally reflected. The gap between state and federal counts underscored how quickly the illness had moved through the population and how the official accounting was still catching up.

Taylor Farms, a California-based supplier to major restaurant chains across the country, moved swiftly once the FDA identified its Mexican facility as the source. The company announced it would voluntarily remove all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from its supply chain. In a statement, the family-owned business expressed deep concern for those who had fallen ill and acknowledged the damage to public trust in fresh produce safety. Taco Bell, for its part, said it had completed the removal of affected lettuce from all its restaurants by Friday and had taken the ingredient out of its nationwide supply chain. The company framed the action as a shared responsibility between restaurants, suppliers, and health authorities.

The parasite spreads when infected feces contaminate food or water. Symptoms typically emerge about a week after infection and can persist anywhere from two days to more than two weeks. People experience watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, bloating, nausea, and fatigue—the kind of sustained illness that sends people to doctors and, in the most severe cases, to hospitals. Previous outbreaks in the U.S. and Canada had been linked to bagged salad mixes, fresh cilantro, basil, raspberries, snow peas, and green onions, suggesting that cyclospora had become a recurring threat in the fresh produce supply.

This was not Taylor Farms' first brush with a foodborne illness crisis. The previous year, an E. coli outbreak had been traced to onions from one of the company's Colorado facilities, forcing McDonald's to temporarily stop using onions on Quarter Pounders at some locations. That history added weight to the current situation and raised questions about oversight and safety protocols across the company's operations.

Dr. Nuwan Gunawardhana, an infectious disease expert at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, offered sobering guidance on protection. Cooking food remains the most reliable defense against the parasite. Brushing or scrubbing vegetables can help reduce contamination, but the parasite's extreme adhesiveness means that washing alone cannot guarantee safety. For consumers accustomed to eating fresh salads and raw vegetables, the outbreak presented a difficult choice: either accept some level of risk or change eating habits. The FDA and health officials urged people to wash all fresh produce and cook food when possible, but acknowledged the limits of those precautions.

As of Friday night, the investigation remained active. Health officials warned that additional states, restaurants, retailers, or products could still be identified as the outbreak continued to unfold. The immediate crisis—removing contaminated lettuce from Taco Bell locations—had been addressed. But the larger question of how cyclospora kept finding its way into the American food supply, and what could be done to prevent future outbreaks, remained unresolved.