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The FDA just said in an update that a sample of shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico "has tested positive for cyclospora." However, Taylor Farms confirmed the tested product is NOT part of the current recall. FDA is investigating to see if the implicated lot is in consumers' homes.

A sample of shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico has tested positive for Cyclospora. This sample was collected during targeted import surveillance as a result of this outbreak investigation. Taylor Farms has confirmed that this positive product is not part of their current recall. They are currently working to identify whether any part of this implicated lot is available in commerce or in consumers homes. The positive lot is currently detained and more information will be provided as it becomes available.

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We now know slightly more: The recalled shredded lettuce also went to Jack in the Box locations in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Jack in the Box told its restaurants to remove the lettuce, and has replaced it w/ "product from an unaffected supply at an alternate domestic facility."

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UPDATE: Jack in the Box just confirmed to me that it also received the cyclospora-linked lettuce from Taylor Farms The lettuce was sent to Jack in the Box stores in Texas, Oklahoma, & Louisiana. The company says it told restaurants to remove the product after learning about the issue on Thursday

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One of the things that I'm ruminating on is: Yesterday, Taylor Farms said "No Taylor Farms-branded salads or kits" were linked to the outbreak. But today, that note is gone and some of the recalled products are listed under the brand acronym "TF" Is "TF" Taylor Farms? I'd sure love to know!

Taylor Fresh Foods statement from Friday 07/17/26

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Given the lack of details provided by Taylor Farms thus far, Consumer Reports' food safety experts are advising folks in the 27 states implicated by the recall to discard ALL iceberg lettuce until we know more about where the parasite-linked products ended up www.consumerreports.org/health/food-...

A map of the 27 states impacted by the recall: AL, AR, CT, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NC, NH, NJ, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, and WI.

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For all of the other parasite-linked lettuce listed on the recall page, we don't know where precisely it was sold or served, by who, or under what brand names. That is uh... not good! Every other recall notice I've covered had these basic details available. www.consumerreports.org/health/food-...

Given the lack of details, CR’s food safety experts advise consumers in the 27 states where Taylor Farms’ products were distributed to discard all iceberg lettuce out of an abundance of caution.

Most of the implicated lettuce appears to have been sent to food service distributors, according to additional detail included only in the FDA’s version of the recall notice. A spokesperson for Sysco said that the distributor had “already withdrawn all impacted products from Mexico,” but did not immediately respond to questions about where the implicated lettuce was served or sold prior to the recall, or if Sysco distributed the lettuce to additional states after receiving the product from Taylor Farms.

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What we know so far is that the recalled iceberg lettuce was sent to Walmart stores and many major foodservice distributors, including Sysco, in 27 states between June 29 and July 16. The only product names we know are from Walmart: Marketside Bagged Iceberg Salad and Bagged Shredded Iceberg Salad

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paris martineau @paris.nyc · 17/07/2026

The way this recall has been handled so far is absolutely bizarre. Instead of listing brand names, Taylor Farm used internal abbreviations for all the products impacted I was able to get Walmart and Sysco to confirm their products were impacted, but the lack of details is a nightmare for consumers

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ive been maintaining a couple internal spreadsheets with cyclosporiasis data for my colleagues to use as a reference but i unfortunately cannot stop making comic sans the default font for all the charts

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paris martineau @paris.nyc · 16/07/2026

more so than ever before, the experience of having a post go viral on twitter these days really is just this

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yeah y'all have a whole separate thing going on. the recommendation from MI health officials is to avoid bagged salad and opt for whole lettuce you peel and wash yourself instead. CR's food safety experts recommend waiting on eating lettuce specifically till we know more about the source tho

What About People in Affected Areas?
CR’s food safety experts recommend that people in the states where cyclosporiasis has been detected wash their hands and foods the best they can, and avoid pre-chopped raw fruits and vegetables. “Stay away from the pre-chopped, pre-bagged, and all the rest of that,” said Rogers. “Instead, buy them whole and chop them yourself while practicing good sanitary hygiene in your kitchen.”

For those living in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky, Rogers suggests avoiding eating lettuce and other salad greens until more information is available about the source of the outbreak, given the preliminary findings in Michigan and the historical link between cyclospora infections and prepackaged leafy greens. “If I was in Michigan, I would personally avoid eating lettuce until more information became available,” he said.

People in affected areas who are immunocompromised or are more susceptible to severe illness from foodborne contaminants, such as young kids and older adults, might want to take additional precautions, like eating their fruits and veggies cooked. Heating food to 158°F kills the cyclospora parasite. “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,” said Rogers.

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even in michigan, where the cyclosporiasis cases are crazy high, the recommendation from health officials is not "avoid all fruits and vegetables." early signals from MI officials point to salad greens being a potential source, so the recommendation is to avoid pre-chopped lettuce and greens

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it is, of course, always good to be cautious and follow CDC guidelines re: food and hand washing but i think that a lot of people are seeing the headlines and assuming that means all fruit and vegetables should be avoided lest you shit your brains out and that is just not the case!

Federal officials said they are not advising people to avoid any particular food at this point, and cautioned that an official source of the outbreak has not been identified yet. However, depending on where you live and your risk factors, you might want to take certain precautions with some types of fresh produce.

Generally speaking, following basic food safety rules can go a long way towards protecting you. The CDC and FDA recommend that everyone wash their 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,” Donald Prater, FDA’s Acting Deputy Commissioner for Food said in Tuesday’s press conference.

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however the same thing is not happening nationwide some states, like NY and IL, are reporting slightly higher than average numbers, but it's nowhere close to the same level as Michigan and many others (CA, MN, MA, etc) are reporting case totals at or below what is expected for this time of year!

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it's still early days tracking wise, but michigan has emerged as a real hot spot. the state has reported 3,300+ cases so far this season, which is 65 times more than it saw in all of last year the CDC has identified a cluster of states nearby that appear to have infections from the same source

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the US sees an uptick in cyclospora infections every summer. it's just how the bug works. what's happening rn appears to be that we are having the usual annual uptick in cases around the US, PLUS a very unusual spike of cases in a handful of states that are making the national numbers look bonkers

It’s important to put the current outbreak into context, as the case pattern is somewhat unusual, said Rogers. 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Tuesday, CDC officials said that although cases have only been detected in at least 34 states so far this year, the total number of illnesses reported is already “much much higher than what we’ve seen last year or the year before.”

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take this photo i just took of gizmo with my iPhone: zoom in on the text of the article next to her and… it’s blurry! 🤯 not everything is a smoking gun folks!

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can’t believe i have to say this but it is Not Cool to promote baseless conspiracies, even about politicians you dislike the blurry text in the mcconnell pic does not mean it is AI generated. it’s just what happens when text is out of focus and an image is compressed

a newspaper held by mcconnell in his proof of life pic, the text is blurry, but you can make out the headline, which is from the washington post sports section

the same newspaper section but in a high quality screenshot

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this is a photo i took 2 seconds ago with my iphone. zoom in on the nymag in the bottom left. same blurry text! when text is out of focus, it gets blurry! unless you have independent reporting that indicates this image was falsified it’s irresponsible to amplify a baseless conspiracy

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literally every word in the headline is readable minus “noskova” which is out of focus due to the fold of the paper “in all-Czech showdown” is clearly visible (you can even see the capitalized C!) the blurriness seen here is dramatically different than the artifacts you get in AI generated text

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sorry to burst the conspiracy bubble but it is identical dawg

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went to a cyclones game yesterday where all the player portraits were photoshopped to look like the kevin james shrugging meme

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