Taylor Farms to halt central-Mexico iceberg lettuce sales during May-August peak

Outbreak sickened 12,000 and caused two deaths, FDA says

Taylor Farms, the produce supplier linked to last summer’s cyclospora outbreak that caused two deaths, will not sell iceberg lettuce in the United States or Canada that was harvested or processed in central Mexico during the region’s rainy season, the company said Thursday.

Chief Executive Bruce Taylor said the suspension will run from May 1 through Aug. 31 each year, beginning in 2027, and will remain in effect until the company determines it can be lifted. Taylor said the period covers central Mexico’s rainy season and matches the time when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention typically sees an increase in cyclospora illnesses.

The decision, announced in an open letter, comes days after the Food and Drug Administration released details from its investigation into what became the largest U.S. cyclospora outbreak on record — an outbreak the FDA linked to Taylor Farms’ shredded iceberg lettuce and that sickened 12,000 people and was tied to two deaths. Neither the FDA nor Taylor Farms has publicly identified what caused the outbreak.

The parasitic outbreak touched every part of the produce industry. Many consumers avoided fresh produce in grocery stores and at salad-heavy restaurant chains. Taylor Farms supplies produce to some of the country’s largest retailers and restaurant brands, including Walmart, Costco and Yum Brands’ Taco Bell.

The company said it is also expanding year-round health monitoring for its staff and for workers at farms where it sources lettuce, boosting testing of irrigation water and crops in central Mexico, and investing in research and technology to improve cyclospora detection and prevention. “We are taking a comprehensive approach to make our food even safer,” Taylor said.

Taylor Farms suspended its sourcing and production of iceberg lettuce from central Mexico in July after federal and state investigators tied the largest outbreak to Taylor Farms’ shredded iceberg lettuce. The company said its processing facility in the region remains closed.

Public health officials declared the cyclospora outbreak over in September. Last week, the FDA said it had closed its investigation after conducting inspections in Mexican lettuce fields — taking samples of water, soil, sediment and lettuce — and at Taylor Farms’ processing facility in Mexico. The agency said two samples tested positive for cyclospora: one from a tank containing wastewater from the processing facility, and another from a drainage ditch at a lettuce grower.

The FDA outlined steps it will take to prevent cyclospora ahead of the 2027 growing season, including increased surveillance of certain agricultural commodities. The agency also said it is exploring new tools to monitor environmental factors such as weather events.

Taylor Farms said it is no longer working with the independent grower where the positive sample was found. The company said the second sample came from waste and sewer water outside its processing facility and was taken more than three weeks after the company had suspended production there.

Some current and former government officials have criticized the handling of the outbreak, both by the Trump administration and Taylor Farms. Frank Yiannas, a former FDA deputy commissioner, said the agency was too slow to reach Mexico and that its findings leave many unanswered questions. “We are really good at detecting outbreaks but really lousy at investigating them,” Yiannas said.

Consumer Reports, a nonprofit organization, sent a letter Thursday to the FDA expressing concern over the agency’s outbreak response and requesting answers to a series of questions next month.