Overview
- The CDC said Friday that chopped iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell has been linked to more than 1,600 confirmed Cyclospora infections and warned consumers not to eat that product in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.
- FDA traceback testing has pointed to a single supplier reported as Taylor Fresh Foods and to a specific independent grower connected to that supplier as the likely source, but investigators are still testing samples to confirm the origin.
- Taco Bell said it will stop using lettuce from the identified supplier while health agencies continue their investigations and review thousands of additional suspected cases.
- Officials report dozens to low hundreds of hospitalizations so far and no deaths, and they warn the confirmed count understates the outbreak because Cyclospora is often underdiagnosed and reporting can be delayed.
- Cyclospora cayetanensis infects the small intestine and spreads through food or water contaminated with feces, outbreaks peak in summer, and the supplier tied to this probe has prior links to large contamination events, which could draw further regulatory and legal scrutiny.