Taco Bell pulls lettuce amid parasite outbreak

Taco Bell is removing lettuce from its menu in select U.S. states as health officials investigate whether the ingredient is tied to a fast-growing outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a parasitic illness that can cause watery, explosive diarrhea.

The fast-food chain said it acted “out of an abundance of caution” after discussions with public health officials. The company told the BBC that lettuce from one of its suppliers is being removed indefinitely and will be replaced. It did not identify the states where lettuce would be pulled from menus.

“While no official advisory has been issued, we believe public health is a shared responsibility among restaurants, their suppliers, and authorities,” Taco Bell said.

A Taco Bell spokesperson also said the company had “taken immediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states” and that the affected ingredient was being “indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states.”

Federal health officials are reportedly examining iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms supplied to Taco Bell as a possible source of the outbreak, The Guardian reported, citing reports from the Washington Post, CNN and other outlets that relied on unnamed people familiar with the investigation. Taco Bell has not identified the supplier publicly. The BBC said U.S. media had named Taylor Farms and that it had contacted the company. The Guardian reported that Taylor Farms did not immediately respond to inquiries.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier this week it had identified 1,645 lab-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis and 145 hospitalizations. The agency also said a backlog of 5,100 cases requires further analysis. The BBC reported that about 7,000 people in 34 states have been infected, according to the CDC.

Michigan has reported the largest number of infections, with more than 3,300 cases detected, according to the BBC. Officials have also said cases in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky are linked. Authorities in Michigan said Monday that lettuce was a “potential source” of the outbreak, and the Washington Post reported earlier this week that federal and state officials were looking at whether lettuce at Taco Bell locations in Michigan was connected.

The CDC has said it is still trying to identify the source of the illness and expects the outbreak to continue through August, The Guardian reported. Health officials have warned that the true number of infections is likely higher than confirmed counts show.

“The true number of infections is almost certainly higher, because many people with mild illness recover,” Gwen Biggerstaff, deputy director of the CDC’s division of foodborne, waterborne and environmental diseases, said Tuesday. “We’re seeing an unusually high number of cyclosporiasis cases this summer.”

Cyclosporiasis spreads through contaminated food or water. Symptoms can take about two weeks to appear and commonly include watery diarrhea lasting for days, sudden weight loss and loss of appetite.

Experts told the BBC that tracing the parasite can be especially difficult. “This isn’t like detecting a needle in a haystack. It’s like detecting a microscopic portion of a needle in a haystack,” said Steven Manderach, executive director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials.

The outbreak has drawn scrutiny of federal food safety resources after cuts to federal health agencies and limits to a CDC program that monitored foodborne illness trends. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that cuts at the CDC and FDA have not affected the federal response.

“We’ve talked to the CDC and FDA specifically about that, and not at all,” she told reporters. “They have the resources they need to make sure that Americans are fully informed and protected from this illness during this time.”