Taylor Farms Lettuce Cyclosporiasis Outbreak Expands to Nine States; CDC Reports Nearly 2,000 Cases, State Counts Exceed 10,000
Editor's note: This story has been edited to include the latest outbreak updates, listed chronologically at the bottom of the article. Alternatively, you can read the most recent coverage here.
The U.S. cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce has been expanded to nine states.
On July 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that, based on epidemiological information collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 1,947 people infected with Cyclospora cayetanensis and reporting exposure to Taco Bell have been reported in nine states.
Outbreak patients fell ill between June 22 and July 20, 2026 in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. There have been at least 98 hospitalizations.
Signs Point to Taylor Farms
Taylor Farms supplied iceberg lettuce grown in Mexico to Taco Bell locations where outbreak patients fell ill. FDA calls the epidemiological evidence pointing to Taylor Farms “overwhelming.” Taylor Farms has initiated a voluntary recall of its shredded iceberg lettuce and certain salad kits on July 17.
Taco Bell is not the only firm affected by the Taylor Farms recall. Notably, Walmart and Sysco have also pulled products containing Taylor Farms-supplied lettuce. Taco Bell has stopped using Taylor Farms as a lettuce supplier and removed all implicated products from its stores.
More Than 10,000 Cases in Just a Few States
Meanwhile, several state health departments are reporting thousands more cyclosporiasis cases. As of July 28, in states with regularly updated case counts:
- Michigan reports 9,253 cases and 160 hospitalizations
- Northwestern Ohio reports 2,689 cases
- Indiana reports 820 cases
- West Virginia reports 226 cases and 19 hospitalizations
- Oklahoma reports 172 cases (170 confirmed, two probable).
The Difference Between CDC and State Counts
State case counts are higher than CDC’s because states may be reporting both probable and confirmed cases, and there is also a lag between the time a state receives notice of a case and when CDC confirms cases reported by states as domestically acquired and connected to the outbreak. Some experts have suggested that recent funding and resource cuts at CDC are straining the foodborne disease surveillance system in the U.S., exacerbating the lag between state and federal outbreak reporting.
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Nationwide Surge in Cyclospora Infections, Three Other Outbreaks
Beyond this outbreak cluster, as of July 28, CDC reports at least 6,707 confirmed, domestically acquired cyclosporiasis cases nationwide since May 1. For comparison, by this time in 2025, CDC only received 249 reports of domestically acquired cyclosporiasis cases. The agency is aware of an additional 11,500-plus cases awaiting confirmation.
According to FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) table, the agency is currently investigating three other cyclosporiasis outbreaks aside from the nine-state cluster, comprising ten, 18, and 72 cases. A food vehicle of infection has not yet been identified in any of these outbreaks.
Cyclosporiasis rates have been trending up in the U.S. over the last three decades. Domestic cases of Cyclospora infections more than doubled from 537 in 2016 to 1,194 in 2017, and then nearly tripled to 3,519 cases in 2018. By 2023, there were nearly 3,000 cases of cyclosporiasis reported in the U.S.
Update, August 5, 2026: CDC has updated its total laboratory-confirmed case count of cyclosporiasis in the U.S. to 10,468 illnesses and 517 hospitalizations, as of August 3. CDC has also updated the number of states reporting cases to 47. The agency noted on August 4 that an additional 12,255 cases require further analysis and have not yet been laboratory confirmed or determined to be part of the U.S. domestic outbreak.
Additionally, CDC has expanded its list of states specifically associated with the Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce outbreak to 15, up from nine, and is reporting 6,358 illnesses, 278 hospitalizations, and two deaths associated with this outbreak. Affected states now include Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
Update, August 12, 2026: CDC has updated its total laboratory-confirmed case count of cyclosporiasis in the U.S. to 13,895 illnesses, 740 hospitalizations, and two deaths in 47 states. CDC is aware of at least 10,455 additional cases of cyclosporiasis that are not laboratory-confirmed or require further investigation to determine whether they were somestically acquired. Many of the additional cases continue to be reported by Michigan, which, as of August 6, reports 12,485 cases and 279 hospitalizations.
Update, August 13, 2026: According to FDA, the number of cyclosporiasis cases linked to Taylor Farms lettuce is 9,481 in 17 states. Since the last update, two additional states have been added: Maine and Massachusetts.
FDA has also initiated an onsite inspection and sampling at Taylor Farms of Mexico in coordination with Mexican officials. The agency says it "remains confident that all recalled iceberg lettuce related to this specific Cyclospora outbreak is off the market."
