A lettuce supplier to fast-food giant Taco Bell is being investigated as a possible source for a nationwide cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened thousands of people, a source familiar with the investigation told CBS News on Thursday.
The source said a traceback investigation by the Food and Drug Administration identified a single supplier of iceberg lettuce from Mexico, Taylor Farms, that was used by Taco Bell locations in five states where people who contracted cyclosporiasis ate. The FDA is investigating, the source said.
Taylor Farms, based in Salinas, California, is a supplier to several major restaurant chains across the U.S. CBS News has reached out to Taylor Farms and Taco Bell for comment.
The outbreak, a diarrheal illness caused by the parasite cyclospora, was first reported in early May and has since spread to 34 states, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It has sickened at least 1,645 people, per CDC data, including at least 141 hospitalizations. But the CDC's tally lags behind state health departments, which have reported much larger numbers of cases. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported Thursday at least 4,312 confirmed cases, including 102 that required hospitalization.
Earlier this week, Taco Bell said in a statement that it had "voluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients at select restaurants as a precautionary measure" as a result of the outbreak.
Last year, an E. coli outbreak was linked to onions provided to several restaurants from a Taylor Farms facility in Colorado. As a result, McDonald's was briefly forced to stop using onions on its Quarter Pounders at some locations.
On its website, Taylor Farms bills itself as the "leading global producer of salads and healthy fresh foods, with production facilities across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Western Europe."
Edited by
Sandra Temko
contributed to this report.
In:
Cyclosporiasis: foods to avoid
The foods you should avoid as the cyclosporiasis outbreak grows03:18
The foods you should avoid as the cyclosporiasis outbreak grows
(03:18)
- Michigan's cyclosporiasis outbreak expands to more than 3,700 cases\
- Michigan's cyclosporiasis outbreak grows to more than 2,600 cases\
- Cyclosporiasis cases more than doubled in Maryland in past week\
- Don’t Freak Out About Fruit-Flavored Vapes\
View CBS News In
CBS News AppOpen
ChromeSafariContinue
Read Original at CBS News →