California-based Taylor Farms possible source of cyclosporiasis outbreak

Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times on Jul 17, 2026

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Public health officials are investigating a major California-based producer of pre-packaged salads, Taylor Farms, that supplied iceberg lettuce to Taco Bell as a potential source of the cyclosporiasis outbreak, sources have told multiple news outlets.

The parasitic disease has made thousands of people sick with debilitating bouts of diarrhea this summer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned the residents of the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia against eating shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell locations in their area; the greens are linked to the cyclosporiasis outbreak.

More than 1,600 sick people in this outbreak cluster, including 94 people who were hospitalized, reported eating at Taco Bell locations within the five-related states.

Officials say they’re also investigating outbreaks and illnesses of the parasitic disease across 34 Midwestern and Eastern states that are unrelated to this outbreak. Neither Taylor Farms nor the Food and Drug Administration immediately responded to requests for comment.

In a statement, Taco Bell said it has “taken immediate 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.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s traceback investigation has identified the iceberg lettuce from a single supplier from Mexico.

The announcement comes after public health officials investigated Taco Bell locations in the Detroit-area after the chain voluntarily stopped selling lettuce, cilantro, onion, pico de gallo and guacamole, “due to a nationwide recall.”

The restaurant’s reported supplier of greens, Taylor Farms, is a global producer of salads and other produce with production facilities in the United States — five of the 12 facilities are in the Midwest and East Coast — Canada, Mexico and Western Europe, according to the company website. The link to the farm was reported by the Washington Post and New York Times.

The Salinas Valley company has been the source of a previous cyclosporiasis outbreak in 2013. During the outbreak, restaurant-associated illnesses in the states of Iowa and Nebraska were linked to salad mix from Taylor Farms de Mexico in Guanajuato, Mexico, according to the CDC.

Earlier this week the CDC stated it had identified a possible link among cyclosporiasis cases in four states that include Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.

At the epicenter of the cyclosporiasis outbreak in Michigan, where more than 5,000 people have been infected and 102 were hospitalized, public health experts announced their investigation into lettuce or salad greens as a possible culprit of the outbreak.

The most recent CDC data reported more then 1,600 domestic cases of cyclosporiasis and is aware of more than 5,100 cases that require further analysis to confirm the illness as domestically acquired.

Officials said the true number of sick people in this multistate outbreak is likely higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses.

That’s because some infected people recover from the illness without medical care.

“In addition, recent illnesses may not yet be reported as it can take several weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak,” the CDC stated.

California has reported 41 cases of cyclosporiasis, between January and June, none of which are linked to the current outbreak. Cases reported this year are below the average of 100 cases reported annually in California, usually between May and August, said Robert Barsanti, spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health.

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