Three months after the likely first batch of lettuce contaminated with the Cyclospora parasite was sold in the United States, food inspectors and public health officials appear to be getting a grip on the outbreak that has sickened thousands and killed two people.
On August 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 3,123 more cases of Cyclospora infections than the prior week. The outbreak is linked to contaminated iceberg lettuce grown at a Taylor Farms plant in Central Mexico and distributed to hundreds of grocery stores, including Walmart, corporate clients and restaurants such as Taco Bell.
As outbreaks spread, Taylor Farms voluntarily recalled the lettuce on July 17, with the produce being pulled from stores and restaurants. Taco Bell now has a new provider for its lettuce.
The CDC now says almost 9,500 individuals across the country have become ill because of cyclospora and 398 people have been hospitalized. But those figures may be severely underreported. State-based health departments have logged significantly more cases than the federal government.
In a recent week’s time, Michigan alone saw its caseload grow by more than 1,400 new cases to a total of 13,909 individuals contracting the parasite that causes intense diarrhea, stomach pains and nausea. More than 300 Michigan residents have been hospitalized and two patients have died since the outbreak began.
At least 17 states have been impacted thus far, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently adding Maine and Massachusetts to the list of states experiencing Cyclospora outbreaks. Other states reporting outbreaks are Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The iceberg lettuce threat, coupled with new reports of separate foodborne illnesses, including a potentially deadly salmonella contamination forcing the recall of millions of eggs, has food safety experts and health officials alarmed by the nation’s deteriorating food safety system.
Problematic Foods Appear Almost Daily
The unsettling headlines have been coming all summer. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration began investigating a salmonella outbreak tied to shell eggs from Midwest Poultry Services of North Manchester, Indiana. The company recalled 1.6 million cartons — more than 19 million individual eggs — sold at Kroger and Brookshire Grocery stores across six states.
On August 14, the FDA upgraded the egg recall to Class I, a designation used only for products where consumption or exposure likely “will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”
That same day, the agency announced recalls on fresh jalapeño peppers contaminated with salmonella that have sickened roughly 350 Americans in 27 states, hospitalizing 36. The CDC traced the contaminant to the provider Coast Citrus Distributors and sold under the brand names NatureBest and HEB.
On Monday, the FDA widened the recall to jalapeño peppers distributed by Dairyland Produce and sold at Costco and other retailers with the label Hardie’s Fresh Foods. And most recently, a recall on several batches of frozen blueberries and mixed berry products initially recalled on July 29 got elevated to Class 1 status because of possible E. coli contamination. The berries were sold under the label GreenWise and were shipped to Publix stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The bacteria strain can cause severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting and so far, 12 people have gotten sick.
A System Stretched Thin
The fact that these recalls have been voluntarily initiated by the companies partly explains the delayed announcements by federal agencies and which may be leading to more illness. For instance, the FDA announced on August 13 that its inspectors were on site at the Taylor Farms facility in Mexico. This was three months after the first contaminated lettuce was sold and reportedly seven years since the regulators last inspected that facility.
The FDA is responsible for ensuring the safety of fruits, vegetables, processed foods and most seafood sold nationwide. But the agency has not met its mandated inspection numbers for almost a decade.
“For years, federal food regulators have been incredibly behind on inspections at foreign facilities, according to targets set by Congress as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act,” according to U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s Food for Thought report issued earlier this year. The organization conducts research, policy analysis and public education to find solutions to problems affecting consumers’ health, safety and well-being.
“A U.S. Government Accountability Office report in 2025 found the Food and Drug Administration conducted an average of 917 inspections of foreign food facilities each year from fiscal year 2018 through 2023,” the report adds. Based on the FSMA, the agency is supposed to inspect 19,200 foreign facilities each year. The report also found that FDA has not met its domestic and foreign inspection targets since fiscal year 2018.
Even high-risk facilities have been under-inspected. In 2021, the agency also failed to inspect 49% of such high-risk facilities that were scheduled for review, according to the report. Facilities can be labeled “high risk” for several reasons, including known safety risks of the food it manufactures or handles or if the facility has a track record of previous food recalls, foodborne illness outbreaks or food safety violations.
Food safety experts say these outbreaks are symptoms of a system that has been quietly hollowed out.
“We are starting to see the consequences of an underfunded public health system in 2026,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical executive. “Currently, it’s cyclospora. Eventually, we are going to lose the ability to detect something else.”
A 2025 Government Accountability Office report found the FDA has missed its own inspection targets every year since 2018.
Food safety advocates say consumers need to double down on home safety practices to avoid foodborne illnesses. Wash all produce thoroughly under running water, even pre-washed or bagged greens. Refrigerate eggs, meat and dairy promptly, and cook eggs and poultry to safe internal temperatures —165°F for poultry; egg dishes to 160°F. Keep cutting boards and utensils separate for produce and raw meat.
Additionally, consumers should check FDA.gov and FoodSafety.gov recall listings regularly. Don’t rely on stores to remove recalled items from their shelves; check home refrigerators for products that may have been purchased weeks before a recall is announced.
If a product is tied to an active outbreak, throw it out rather than risk eating it. The A recall itself is often the last, not the first, line of defense.
