GoKawiilCooking produce is the only 100% effective way to kill cyclospora, which is why raw salads are such a gamble right now. wildpixel/Getty Images
After weeks of “produce paranoia,” with people clearing out their fridges and swearing off salads, there’s been another hiccup in the investigation into the multistate cyclospora outbreak. On Sunday, the US Food and Drug Administration appeared to flip-flop on claims that the foodborne pathogen had been found in iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, a global fresh produce company based in Salinas, California.
Cyclospora, which causes the gastrointestinal illness known for “explosive diarrhea,” has historically been linked to fresh produce such as berries and salad greens but is notoriously hard to trace. For several weeks, no specific food, brand, grower or supplier was conclusively identified as the source of the outbreak, which has led to panicking and a whole lot of memes on social media.
Last week, health officials announced they were investigating a link to Taylor Farms’ shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. As a result, Taylor Farms said it was voluntarily pulling iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the US market. There seemed to be, momentarily, a collective sigh of relief.
Then, on Sunday, when the FDA said that a lettuce sample that tested positive for cyclospora was actually a “false positive,” the search for the outbreak’s source appeared to reset to square one. Taylor Farms wrote in a July 19 statement on its website: “To be clear, at this moment, FDA has not identified a single positive product test result for cyclospora. ” Nonetheless, the recall of Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce grown and processed in central Mexico remains in place across 27 states.
A new twist came on Monday, when the FDA clarified on social media that the agency was still confident of a link to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico. The FDA said in a post on X that the false-positive lab finding doesn’t alter the substantial epidemiological data backing Taylor Farms’ voluntary recall. Laboratory tests are just one piece of evidence, but not the decisive factor in the larger investigation of the current outbreak.
To clarify, this false-positive lab sample DOES NOT change the basis for FDA’s ongoing outbreak investigation or the overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the current voluntary recall by Taylor Farms.
Over the weekend, FDA alerted Taylor Farms that a new sample of… https://t.co/hedRwhPLd8 — U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) July 20, 2026
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that more than 7,000 cyclospora cases have been either confirmed or are under investigation nationwide since May 1, with over 100 hospitalizations and no deaths to date. Cases have been reported across 34 states, with Michigan among the hardest-hit regions.
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