Taylor Farms has expanded a voluntary recall of its iceberg lettuce products sourced from central Mexico due to a potential link to a multistate outbreak of cyclospora, a parasite that can cause intestinal illness.
The California-based company stated that products potentially contaminated with the parasite were shipped to 27 states, including Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New Jersey. Taylor Farms has stopped sourcing lettuce from an implicated lot in central Mexico and is actively removing the affected products.
U.S. health officials recently identified lettuce from a Mexican supplier as a source of cyclospora contamination in food served at Taco Bell restaurants in five Midwestern states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initially warned consumers to avoid shredded lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia.
Taco Bell has stated that it voluntarily removed the product from restaurants and that the affected ingredient has been removed from its supply chain nationwide.
The Taylor Farms recall encompasses 25 shredded lettuce and salad mix products sold under eight different brand codes. The recalled items were shipped as recently as Thursday and have "best by" dates extending to August 3.
Sysco, a major food distributor, has halted the distribution of all Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce products sourced from Mexico and has instructed its customers to destroy them.
Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite transmitted through food contaminated by human feces, often when produce is irrigated or washed with contaminated water. Ingesting the parasite can lead to intestinal illness characterized by frequent bowel movements, according to the CDC.
As of this year, at least 1,645 people in the U.S. have been sickened by cyclospora, with 141 hospitalizations, according to the CDC. The agency is also investigating more than 5,000 additional illnesses that may be linked to the parasite. This represents a significant increase compared to the same period last year, when only 249 cases had been reported.