Taylor Farms Pulls Mexican Lettuce Linked to Cyclospora Parasite
The company, which reportedly supplied shredded iceberg lettuce to Taco Bell restaurants, did not disclose which products it is removing from the market or where they were sold.
Taylor Farms, one of the country’s largest producers of salad greens, said Friday it is removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market after health officials identified a farm in the region as a potential source of the outbreak that has sickened thousands of people across the U.S. this summer.
The statement released by Taylor Farms on Friday did not specify which products are affected or where they were sold. The company said only that no “Taylor Farms-branded salads or kits” were associated with the outbreak and that no “Taylor Farms-branded salad kits contain iceberg lettuce.” It is unclear whether the affected products are sold under Taylor Farms’ brand, or if they were sold to restaurants, grocery stores, or other establishments.
Taylor Farms reportedly supplied the shredded iceberg lettuce from Mexico to Taco Bell restaurants in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, which federal investigators recently linked to at least 1,644 illnesses and 94 hospitalizations. That investigation is part of a broader effort to identify the source of a sprawling outbreak of intestinal illnesses that has affected people in at least 34 states in recent months.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on July 14 that it has identified at least 1,645 lab-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis, a disease caused by the parasite cyclospora, and is working to confirm an additional 5,100 reports that had occurred since May. The actual number of infections is almost certainly much higher. On July 17, Michigan alone reported 5,002 cyclosporiasis cases and 102 hospitalizations.
