Update: Taylor Farms has recalled iceberg lettuce sold to Walmart and food distributors in 27 states.
The word on everyone’s lips this summer is cyclospora. The microscopic parasite, best known for causing bouts of “explosive” diarrhea, has sickened at least 10,000 people in the U.S. so far this year and generated a spate of panic-inducing headlines that have caused some consumers to eye the entire produce aisle with suspicion.
But food safety experts say that’s not the right approach. “You can and should continue to eat fruits and vegetables, but you might want to take additional precautions depending on where you live,” says James E. Rogers, PhD, director of food safety at Consumer Reports.
Here’s what you need to know about the outbreaks and what you can do to stay safe.
I Heard Lettuce Is What’s Making People Sick. But Then I Heard That a Sample of Lettuce Didn’t Test Positive for Cyclospora. What’s Going On?
A majority of infections so far have been reported in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Kentucky. The Food and Drug Administration has linked a cluster of illnesses in those five states to iceberg lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell restaurants. At least 1,644 people have become ill, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though the actual total number of infections is almost certainly much higher.
The lettuce was supplied by Taylor Farms, and on July 17, the company recalled all the iceberg lettuce it shipped to the U.S. from that region. Taylor Farms said it distributed the recalled lettuce to 27 states in all. Taco Bell also said it has stopped serving the potentially contaminated lettuce in its restaurants across the country.
The confusion about the source of the outbreak stems from a series of updates from the FDA. Shortly after Taylor Farms issued the recall, the FDA announced that a sample of Taylor Farms’ shredded iceberg lettuce had tested positive for cyclospora. Then, about 24 hours later, the agency retracted that announcement and said it had determined that the previous test result was a false positive.
But because the sample the FDA tested came from a batch of lettuce that was not part of the recall, the false-positive result didn’t cast doubt on the link between the recalled Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce and the ongoing outbreak.
“The reevaluation of the sample does not alter the data supporting the outbreak advisory that prompted the current voluntary recall,” Donald Prater, the FDA’s acting deputy commissioner for food, said in a press conference on Monday. “FDA’s traceback investigation and the outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico.”
The FDA advises consumers not to eat the recalled lettuce.
What If I Don’t Live in One of the Five States Where the FDA Says Lettuce Caused Illnesses? Can I Eat Lettuce?
It’s not clear. Taylor Farms said it distributed the recalled lettuce to 27 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
But Taylor Farms hasn’t publicly identified all of the retailers and restaurants that received the lettuce. It also isn’t known whether the lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms is linked to any illnesses in other states. The FDA said that additional states may be added to the warning list as more information becomes available.
In the absence of further information, Consumer Reports’ food safety experts recommend that people in the 27 states where Taylor Farms distributed its recalled product avoid all iceberg lettuce for now. (See our coverage of the recall for more information about the situation.)
What if you live elsewhere? Rogers says there’s still a lot we don’t know. “This isn’t over yet, and it’s possible that additional states may ultimately be revealed to have also received the product,” he says. “I’m conservative when it comes to food safety, so I personally would consider avoiding iceberg lettuce for the time being until the outbreak is declared over and we know for sure where the lettuce ended up, but I stress it is a personal choice.”
Has Any Other Produce Been Linked to Cyclospora?
There hasn’t been a source identified for cases outside of the five states where iceberg lettuce was found to be the likely culprit. “Right now, there is no data to support avoiding fruits and vegetables generally,” Rogers says.
But the FDA and CDC are also “currently working to investigate multiple clusters of cyclospora illness nationwide,” said acting FDA commissioner Kyle Diamantas at a July 20 press conference. “I want to stress that our investigation continues, including into other potential sources and commodities for other clusters of illnesses.”
Is Cyclospora More Common This Year Than in Previous Years?
The total number of illnesses reported nationwide is already “much, much higher than what we’ve seen last year or the year before,” CDC officials said at a July 14 press conference.
There were about 2,800 cases reported annually in the U.S., on average, between 2016 and 2023. This year, in addition to the 1,644 cases linked to iceberg lettuce in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia, the CDC says it is investigating another 5,100 reports since May in 34 states. “The true number of infections is almost certainly higher than what’s reflected in these numbers, because many people with mild illness recover without seeking medical care and are never tested,” Gwen Biggerstaff, MPH, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, said at the July 14 press conference. For example, as of July 21, in Michigan alone, health officials have reported 6,571 cases—130 times more cases than the state saw in all of 2025.
Still, it’s important to put the current outbreak into context. The U.S. traditionally experiences a surge in cyclospora infections during the summer months. The parasite can be found in food and water contaminated with human feces, and infections are more likely to occur in warm or rainy weather. By this time last year, at least 44 states had reported cases of cyclosporiasis, the disease caused by the cyclospora parasite, to the CDC.
How Worried Should I Be?
How concerned you should be about the risk of contracting cyclosporiasis may depend on where you live. Although headlines may lead you to believe that the entire country is awash with illnesses, a look at the numbers shows that’s not the case.
Clearly, there’s a concerning issue in the five states where a majority of cases are clustered. And a few other states, such as New York and Illinois, are reporting somewhat higher than average case numbers for this time of year.
But it’s unclear whether these infections are linked to the outbreak involving iceberg lettuce in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, are part of an unrelated outbreak of unknown origin, or merely reflect the typical increase in illnesses caused by cyclospora seen during the summer months.
For example, Marissa Crary, a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health, said on July 17 that preliminary data indicates there have been “approximately 576” cases of cyclosporiasis reported since May and that the state typically records between 500 and 700 cases per year. “New York’s current cases statewide do not represent a major deviation from the norm,” Crary told Consumer Reports.
Illinois had recorded 355 cases as of July 20, though only 180 appear to have been domestically acquired (cyclosporiasis is commonly picked up while traveling abroad), Matthew Mata, a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Public Health, told Consumer Reports. That total is “higher than average,” he said, but “no single source or cause of this increase has been identified, and there is no evidence of a large outbreak accounting for all or most of these cases.”
But in many other states, such as California, Massachusetts, and Minnesota, case counts so far are at or below typical levels for this time of year. Amy Barrett, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Health, said that although 66 cases have been reported since May 1, “none of Minnesota’s cases were linked to the multistate outbreak, and we are not seeing an increase in cases over what we would expect for this time of year.” Similarly, California health officials said on July 14 that the state has seen fewer cases of cyclosporiasis so far this year than it did over the same period in 2025.
Is Produce From a Home Garden or Farmers Market Safer Than What’s at the Supermarket?
Until we know which contaminated produce items have contributed to the uptick in cases seen nationwide, it’s tough to say for sure, but Rogers says fruits and vegetables from a home garden, farmers market, or community-supported agriculture (CSA) program may be a less risky option. What we know about how cyclospora spreads helps illustrate why.
The parasite is typically transmitted when the feces of infected humans contaminate crops during growing or processing. And it must spend time in certain environmental conditions to become infectious.
Large outbreaks of cyclosporiasis, like the one currently under investigation in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, typically occur when contaminated produce has been widely distributed to a large group of people across multiple states, which is not the typical distribution pattern for crops grown by small-scale local farmers.
“So long as you’re confident that what’s growing in your home garden hasn’t been in contact with infected human feces or wastewater, it’s probably safe from cyclospora,” says CR’s Rogers.
What Steps Should I Take to Protect Against Cyclospora?
Generally speaking, following basic food safety rules can go a long way toward keeping you protected. The CDC and FDA recommend that you wash your hands with soap and water before and after preparing raw fruits and vegetables. You should also wash fruits and vegetables (even those labeled as prewashed) thoroughly under running water before eating, and scrub firmer foods, like melons and cucumbers, with a clean produce brush. Do this before you slice into the food to avoid transferring any outside contaminants to the inside flesh.
“It is important to wash fresh produce, and so I think that’s been shown to be very helpful in lowering the risk of this parasite,” said Prater, the FDA official, at the July 14 press conference.
It’s worth noting that cyclospora appears to be more difficult to remove from some foods than other parasites. A small-scale study published in 2021 compared the efficacy of three washing methods in removing parasites from raspberries and blueberries. While rinsing raspberries in a strainer under a gentle stream of cold tap water for a minute was enough to remove, on average, at least 80 percent of the other two parasites studied, the removal rate for cyclospora ranged from 11 to 69 percent. Washing the raspberries with a mixture of vinegar and tap water offered some improvement, but it still left a notable amount of the parasite present on the fruit. The most effective method involved washing the berries before rinsing them in a salad spinner, but even this failed to remove all the parasites.
Still, Rogers says that removing some cyclospora from a contaminated item can be beneficial. It can reduce the risk of getting sick or result in less severe illness if you do.
People in affected areas who are immunocompromised or more susceptible to severe illness from foodborne contaminants, such as young children and older adults, might want to take additional precautions, like eating their fruits and veggies cooked. (Pregnant people may also want to consult with their doctor to determine whether they should take additional precautions because the antibiotic used to treat cyclosporiasis has been linked to a higher risk of birth defects, in some cases, when taken during pregnancy.) Heating food to 158° F kills the cyclospora parasite. “If you want to be as safe as possible, you can cook all your fruits and vegetables until we know more,” Rogers says. “I’m advising my friends and family with compromised immune systems to avoid uncooked vegetables for the time being, but I tend to err on the side of caution.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated on July 21. This is a developing story, and Consumer Reports will continue to make updates as new information becomes available.
