Parsley and Cilantro Identified as Potential Sources of Cyclospora Outbreak in North Carolina
State health officials said the herbs appear to be linked to rising cases in North Carolina. At the same time, the FDA has identified a new outbreak with an unknown source.
At a press conference on July 21, health officials in North Carolina, which has seen a surge in illnesses caused by the parasite cyclospora this summer, said that some of the cases appear to be linked to parsley and cilantro. The state has reported 561 cases of cyclosporiasis since May 1. That’s nearly double the number of cases it recorded in all of 2025.
State officials said that lettuce may also be involved, and listed it alongside parsley and cilantro as a food item that “keeps showing up repeatedly” in interviews with infected people. However, they noted the increase in cases seen in North Carolina so far does not appear to be related to the large cluster of illnesses “associated with lettuce and Taco Bell” restaurants in other states. (Federal health officials have linked shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms and served at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia with illnesses in those states.)
“We have not noticed that association here,” said Carl Williams, a public health official at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. “We can say that because we do a thorough investigation of all of these reported cases in collaboration with our local health departments.”
Williams, who cautioned that the findings were preliminary and that no definitive source had been identified yet, said that the frequency with which parsley, cilantro, and lettuce have appeared in investigators’ ingredient-level analyses of the food eaten by residents prior to infection has led officials to believe they “may be implicated.”
The herbs appear to be among the first additional foods, aside from iceberg lettuce, that health officials have publicly linked to at least some of the thousands of cyclosporiasis cases reported in the U.S. this year.
On July 22, the Food and Drug Administration said that it is investigating another outbreak of cyclosporiasis, with at least 72 cases, linked to “a not yet identified product.” An FDA spokesperson said that the agency has initiated traceback and that “officials are working together to determine the specific cause of illnesses in this cluster of cyclospora cases.”
The FDA has opened investigations into a total of six outbreaks of cyclosporiasis so far this summer. With the exception of the outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce in five states, the agency has not identified a source of the illnesses or said where the people who have been sickened are located.
It is unclear whether the North Carolina cases are related to any of the five outbreaks of unknown origin. The FDA did not respond to specific questions about whether the parsley- and cilantro-linked cases in North Carolina are part of its investigation, or whether the herbs have been linked to cases in other states. “We will share information with the public as appropriate to protect public health, providing updates when there is actionable, confirmed information to report,” the FDA spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the North Carolina DHHS declined to comment when asked whether the FDA was investigating the outbreak in North Carolina. The spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether parsley, cilantro, and lettuce were equally represented in the food history interviews with infected residents or to requests for further details about the provenance of each implicated produce item.
At the July 21 press conference, state health officials said that the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services was “not conducting any testing of lettuce products related to the cyclosporiasis outbreak” at this time.
State health officials have sent “several hundred” clinical specimens (i.e., stool samples from infected people) to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Williams at the press conference. The CDC’s analysis has so far only identified “some” clusters of cases with genetic similarities within North Carolina, he said. “I suspect there’s a backlog and they’re behind,” said Williams. “These things are going to take time. That molecular work is not quick.”
Should You Avoid Parsley and Cilantro?
The North Carolina DHHS said, “If using ingredients that have been identified to be associated with the increase in cyclospora cases in North Carolina like lettuce, parsley, and cilantro, please consider removing or cooking fully to avoid getting yourself or others sick.”
