More than 12,000 Americans have been sickened by a fecal-borne parasite in the largest outbreak of its kind on record, and the contaminated lettuce responsible came straight from central Mexico into 27 states without anyone stopping it. The cost of cheap imported produce is being paid at the dinner table.
The CDC has now linked outbreaks in nine states — Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania — to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico. The parasite, cyclospora, infects people when raw produce comes into contact with feces. Symptoms include explosive, watery diarrhea that can last weeks. Some patients require hospitalization.
CNN reported that 1,947 infected people specifically recalled eating at Taco Bell in the affected states. Michigan alone has confirmed 7,664 cases, according to CBS News, and state health officials there say not everyone interviewed could remember eating lettuce — meaning the true toll is almost certainly higher. The CDC has tallied 4,173 laboratory-confirmed domestic cases and is investigating thousands more. Health departments across the nine states have recorded over 12,000 cases so far this summer.
For context: the US typically sees 200 to 1,000 cyclosporiasis cases per year. There were 4,500 in 2023 and 3,500 in 2024. This year has already dwarfed both, with at least a month left in the season.
Taylor Farms de Mexico, the supplier linked to the outbreak, voluntarily recalled its shredded iceberg lettuce. Taylor Farms is a produce giant supplying Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, and Taco Bell. The contaminated product was shipped to restaurants, food services, and retailers in 27 states. That is 27 states that received lettuce from a single foreign supplier whose product was carrying a fecal parasite — and the FDA and CDC only found out after people started getting sick.
The Guardian noted that the FDA is also conducting a separate investigation into 72 additional cyclosporiasis cases that have not yet been linked to a specific product. Smaller outbreaks in states like North Carolina have been tied to parsley and cilantro — also commonly served raw, also commonly imported.
Both CBS and CNN framed this primarily as a public health tracking story — an epidemiological puzzle being solved by diligent investigators. The Guardian gave more detail on the nature of the contamination: produce that comes into contact with feces. What none of the three outlets paused to ask is why a parasite from human or animal waste is showing up repeatedly in produce imported from Mexico, and what the inspection regime — if you can call it that — is actually doing before that food crosses the border.
The CDC says investigators and Mexican health authorities are
