Taylor Farms has widened a voluntary recall of its iceberg lettuce products after the items were linked to a multistate outbreak of cyclospora, a parasite that has made people sick across the United States.
The California-based company announced Friday that products potentially contaminated with the illness-causing parasite were distributed to 27 states, among them Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New Jersey.
“We are actively removing the implicated products,” the company said in a statement, noting that it has also stopped sourcing lettuce from the affected lot in central Mexico.
Earlier this week, U.S. health officials identified lettuce from a Mexican supplier as a source of cyclospora contamination in food served at Taco Bell locations across five Midwestern states.
The recall covers 25 different shredded lettuce and salad mix products sold under eight brand codes. Taylor Farms did not respond to a request for the full names of those brands or the retailers carrying them. Some of the recalled products were shipped as recently as Thursday and carry “best by” dates as late as August 3.
Sysco, the country’s largest food distributor, has suspended distribution of all Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce products originating from Mexico and has directed its customers to destroy any they have on hand.
Cyclospora is a tiny parasite that gets into food when it comes into contact with human feces — most often through contaminated water used for irrigation or washing produce. The CDC says that once ingested, the parasite triggers intestinal illness characterized by “frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements.”
So far in 2026, cyclospora has sickened at least 1,645 people nationwide and put 141 in the hospital, according to the CDC. Health officials are also looking into more than 5,000 additional cases that may be connected to the parasite. By comparison, only 249 cases had been reported at this same point last year.
The CDC initially advised consumers to avoid shredded lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia.
“Taco Bell worked swiftly to voluntarily remove the product from restaurants and the affected ingredient has been removed from our supply chain nationwide,” the fast food chain said in its own statement Friday.
