LOS ANGELES, July 16 (Xinhua) -- A California lettuce supplier to fast-food giant Taco Bell is being investigated as a possible source for a nationwide cyclosporiasis outbreak in the United States, multiple news outlets reported Thursday.
Two individuals familiar with the investigation told the Washington Post that investigators have identified shredded iceberg lettuce supplied to Taco Bell restaurants by Taylor Farms as a potential source of contamination in this parasitic disease outbreak.
Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this week that they have identified a likely link among cyclosporiasis cases in four states -- Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky -- marking the agency's clearest public indication yet that many of the illnesses are connected to a common source.
"The signal we have gotten is that there is a very high percentage of people who got sick at Taco Bell, and when investigators asked what their menu items were in common, lettuce came up frequently," said the report, citing one of the individuals.
A source familiar with the investigation told CBS News that a traceback investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that people who contracted cyclosporiasis had eaten the lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms to Taco Bell outlets in five states.
Taylor Farms, based in Salinas, California, is a supplier to several major restaurant chains across the country, the report added.
Cyclosporiasis reports are rising rapidly in the United States, as state and local health systems have logged far more cases than federal counts, and a large case analysis backlog remains, the CDC said earlier this week.
The agency said Tuesday it had received 1,645 laboratory-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis across 34 states since May 1, 2026, with 141 hospitalizations and no deaths, in addition to more than 5,100 reports requiring analysis before they could be classified as domestically acquired. ■