{"id":926168,"date":"2026-08-10T11:12:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/10\/lettuce-at-taco-bell-in-5-states-confirmed-as-source-of-a-diarrhea-causing-parasite-outbreak\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T11:12:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:12:46","slug":"lettuce-at-taco-bell-in-5-states-confirmed-as-source-of-a-diarrhea-causing-parasite-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/10\/lettuce-at-taco-bell-in-5-states-confirmed-as-source-of-a-diarrhea-causing-parasite-outbreak\/","title":{"rendered":"Lettuce at Taco Bell in 5 states confirmed as source of a diarrhea-causing parasite outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CDC, FDA and public health officials in several states have been\u00a0investigating a multistate outbreak\u00a0of cyclospora infections.<\/h2>\n
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\n\tA Taco Bell fast food restaurant is shown Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Taylor, Mich. (AP Photo\/Paul Sancya) AP Photo\/Paul Sancya<\/em>\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy BILL BARROW, Associated Press\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Federal health officials have identified lettuce from Mexico served by Taco Bell locations across five U.S. states as a source of\u00a0the widespread outbreak<\/a>\u00a0of diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Thursday confirmed the source and\u00a0warned consumers not to eat\u00a0shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.<\/p>\n

A Food and Drug Administration investigation identified a single supplier of the lettuce. The federal warnings to consumers did not identify the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cFDA is working with the supplier of iceberg lettuce to determine if potentially contaminated shredded iceberg lettuce remains on the market,\u201d including in other states, the CDC said. \u201cTaco Bell has committed to stop using any lettuce from the supplier identified by FDA\u2019s traceback investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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CDC, FDA and public health officials in several states have been\u00a0investigating a multistate outbreak\u00a0of cyclospora infections.<\/p>\n

More than 30 states have reported infections this year, and current data from them shows the number of infections surpassing the record U.S. mark of about 4,700 set in 2019. The illness is not usually life threatening and is typically treated with antibiotics.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, ahead of the federal government\u2019s confirmation, Taco Bell issued a statement saying it had \u201cvoluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients at select restaurants as a precautionary measure. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and follow the guidance of public health authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea \u201cwith frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,\u201d according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\u00a0Outbreaks tend to occur\u00a0most often in the late spring and summer.<\/p>\n

The heat-loving parasite infects the bowels and spreads through feces. In the past, people have been infected by consuming\u00a0fruits or vegetables\u00a0that were exposed to feces-contaminated irrigation water.<\/p>\n

The illness, called cyclosporiasis, is less common than foodborne illnesses caused by other germs, including salmonella and E. coli. Many cases are never linked to a specific food or other source and, for years, few U.S. cyclospora outbreaks were reported. But the number started rising about a decade ago, with a particularly notable spike in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n

Experts say it\u2019s likely that cyclospora cases historically were underreported, in part because some common tests used to check for food poisoning have not been geared to detect cyclospora. They attribute the increasing trend in cases to climate change and better detection.<\/p>\n

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Skip to Main Content Health CDC, FDA and public health officials in several states have been\u00a0investigating a multistate outbreak\u00a0of cyclospora infections. A Taco Bell fast food restaurant is shown Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Taylor, Mich. (AP Photo\/Paul Sancya) AP Photo\/Paul Sancya By BILL BARROW, Associated Press July 17, 2026 2 minutes to read Share<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":926169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25091,1066],"tags":[151617,9978],"class_list":["post-926168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lettuce","category-states","tag-lettuce","tag-states"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}