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As cyclospora cases continue to rise, Michigan is facing a disproportionately large outbreak of the disease that causes gastrointestinal illness in those affected.
The CDC said it is aware of at least 7,400 more cases reported by state and local health departments that are not yet laboratory confirmed and still requires analysis, with many of the unconfirmed cases originating in Michigan and Ohio.
As a result, state and county health officials said in interviews they are borrowing staff and recruiting volunteers to sleuth out potential causes of the outbreak beyond the Taylor Farms’ bagged lettuce, the Associated Press reported.
Michigan, like many states, has faced reductions in its public health workforce after the Trump administration canceled around $12 billion in COVID-era grants to states. The Wolverine State has 23 fewer infection disease professionals and 123 fewer county health workers than before the grants were canceled to deal as it deals with this latest public health threat.
“We do have the outbreak under control,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday.
Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Deputy Commissioner Frank Yiannas called out the federal government response to the outbreak. He said in an interview with Politico that “lack of strong federal leadership” on this issue.
“This one deserves a lot of questions, and it is starting to approach a catastrophic level in terms of how mismanaged it’s been on multiple fronts,” he told the outlet.
Cyclospora is generally transmitted when infected feces contaminates food or water and is unlikely to be transmitted directly from person to person because the parasite needs days or weeks to become infectious. Products are typically infected through water contamination
Iceberg lettuce from central Mexico supplied by Taylor Farms has been recalled and linked to the cyclospora outbreak. The Center for Disease Control links the lettuce to outbreaks in 9 states and included Marketside-brand products.
“We’ve commissioned independent experts to conduct a top-to-bottom review of food safety processes and protocols in our central Mexico facility, whereas of July 18, 2026 we have temporarily suspended production of all products,” Taylor Farms writes in a press release. “According to the FDA, there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for Cyclospora as of July 24, 2026.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on July 17 is also investigating other sources after linking the outbreak to iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants sourced from privately held Taylor Farms’ operations in central Mexico.
Taco Bell has discontinued its use of Taylor Farms products and encourages consumers to return to its stories.
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