Cyclospora outbreak tied to Taylor Farms lettuce at Taco Bell restaurants

Taylor Farms removed all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market after federal investigators linked the product to a multistate cyclospora outbreak that had sickened at least 400 people in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. The implicated lettuce had been sold under several brands and had been shipped as recently as Thursday, leaving shoppers with a hard-to-follow trail across restaurant supply chains and retail labels.

Federal officials identified shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms and served at some Taco Bell restaurants as the likely source of the cluster. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said nearly 7,000 cyclospora cases had been confirmed or were under investigation nationwide since May 1, with at least 141 hospitalizations. That wider case count helped push the response quickly from a focused restaurant investigation into a broader lettuce pullback.

Taylor Farms Foodservice said Taylor Farms de Mexico was voluntarily removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market. The company said the Food and Drug Administration traceback pointed to a specific independent farm in central Mexico that represented less than 1% of the U.S. iceberg lettuce supply. Taylor Farms also said no Taylor Farms branded salads or kits had been identified in the ongoing investigation.

Taco Bell said it had voluntarily and temporarily removed certain ingredients from the menu at select restaurants while public health officials continued their work. The restaurant chain’s move came as investigators traced the outbreak beyond a single menu item and into a supply chain that may have reached other vendors as well.

Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that typically spreads through contaminated food or water rather than person-to-person contact. Symptoms can include watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, bloating and nausea, and the illness can last for weeks without treatment, a detail that has made the outbreak especially disruptive for diners, restaurant operators and produce buyers trying to sort out exposure risk.

The investigation also renewed scrutiny of Taylor Farms, which was previously linked to a 2024 E. coli outbreak tied to slivered onions and a 2013 cyclospora outbreak associated with lettuce. The new case once again put the company’s produce network under a federal microscope, as investigators worked to map which brands, restaurants and distributors handled the same iceberg lettuce before it was pulled from circulation.