Taylor Farms Cyclospora outbreak triples in size – eFoodAlert

Six more states added to list

August 5, 2026

The Taylor Farms Cyclospora outbreak has grown to include 6,358 lab-confirmed cases according to an update released today by the CDC. The total includes 278 hospitalizations.

Two Michigan residents with underlying conditions have died in the outbreak.

Six new states have been added to the list of affected states, which has now grown to include Arkansas (41), Illinois (164), Indiana (370), Iowa (83), Kansas (165), Kentucky (265), Michigan (3491), Missouri (568), Nebraska (92), New Hampshire (31), North Carolina (2), Ohio (645), Oklahoma (183), Pennsylvania (132), and West Virginia (126).

Oregon, Washington, and Virginia, all of whom reported apparent outbreak-related cases in residents who had traveled to one of the previously identified outbreak states, are not included in the current list of affected states.

The CDC continues to report a timeline for illness onset based on a start date of June 22, 2026, but has expanded the outbreak definition to include exposure to Taco Bell or recalled Taylor Farms de Mexico iceberg lettuce.

The lettuce recalled by Taylor Farms de Mexico was distributed from June 29th thru July 16th.

The CDC has not explained why exposure to earlier shipments of Taylor Farms lettuce was not considered to be a factor in this outbreak, even though cases that developed prior to the start of distribution of the recalled lettuce are part of the outbreak totals. Nor has the CDC ever provided an explanation for the short-lived shift of the outbreak’s start date from June 22nd to May 13th and back again.

Despite the size of the Taylor Farms outbreak, the 6,358 cases represent only 28% of the 22,723 confirmed and probable domestically acquired cases of cyclosporiasis reported across the United States so far this year, according to the CDC’s latest Cyclospora Surveillance update.

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