Taylor Farms recalls iceberg lettuce as Cyclospora outbreak spreads nationwide

Check your refrigerator for Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico. The implicated lettuce was distributed between June 29 and July 16 to Walmart stores, Jack in the Box restaurants and food service distributors including Sysco, across 27 states. Lab-confirmed U.S. cyclosporiasis cases have topped 1,600, and symptoms can begin about a week after exposure, sometimes as early as 2 days or as late as 2 weeks. Watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, bloating and increased gas are the warning signs most often tied to the parasite.

Taylor Farms said it was voluntarily removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market. The company also said its branded salads and salad kits were not linked to the outbreak. Federal officials first believed a Taylor Farms lettuce sample tested positive for Cyclospora, then later said that result was a false positive, while the CDC and FDA kept tracing an outbreak the CDC linked to iceberg lettuce in five states.

That reversal did not stop buyers from clearing product. Walmart pulled four Marketside-branded bagged iceberg lettuce salads from select locations as a precaution. Jack in the Box said the recalled lettuce reached its restaurants in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, and that it swapped in lettuce from another domestic supplier once it was notified. Sysco removed all Taylor Farms processed iceberg lettuce from Mexico from distribution and instructed customers to destroy it.

The CDC has linked the outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. Five states have reported 1,644 infections and 94 hospitalizations, with no deaths.

Taylor Farms is facing added scrutiny because Reuters noted its onions were tied to a 2024 E. coli outbreak. In this investigation, federal health officials initially had a laboratory lead, then walked back the specific sample result while continuing to warn that iceberg lettuce remained the suspect vehicle for a multistate parasite outbreak.

Correction: An earlier version of this article named a list of grocery retailers as carrying the recalled product, and cited a figure of more than 300 products and about 12 million pounds. Those details belong to an unrelated 2024 listeria recall involving a different supplier and were incorrect. The retailers named were not part of the Taylor Farms cyclospora recall. We regret the error.