By Aishwarya Venugopal, Waylon Cunningham and Emily Schmall
July 17 (Reuters) – Taylor Farms, a California-based lettuce supplier, is removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico, the company said in a statement on Friday, as it seeks to curtail a foodborne illness outbreak that could become one of the United States’ largest in recent years.
The company said it was doing so based on information provided on Thursday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The company added in its statement that no Taylor Farms-branded salads or kits are associated with the cyclosporiasis outbreak, and that no Taylor Farms-branded salad kits contain iceberg lettuce.
An industry source who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media told Reuters that Taylor Farms called clients on Thursday, including Taco Bell owner Yum Brands and food distributor Sysco, to pull their shredded lettuce from distribution.
The lettuce, which the FDA said late on Thursday came from Mexico, was produced as 5-pound bags at Taylor Farms’ facility in Guanajuato, Mexico, the source said, adding that Sysco widely distributes such bags to hospitals, ballparks and fast-food chains.
The scope of the recall is unclear. The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating the outbreak linked to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. The parasitic illness can cause diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms. The FDA has reported no deaths in the outbreak.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, did not respond to requests for comment. Yum and Sysco did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Taylor Farms’ growing and processing facilities in Mexico were the source of another major cyclosporiasis outbreak in the United States. A 2013 outbreak sickened more than 600 people in 25 states, according to the CDC, and was traced to salad mix from Taylor Farms de Mexico in Guanajuato.
THOUSANDS OF MICHIGAN CASES
Michigan health officials reported 5,002 cases of cyclosporiasis as of Friday, an increase of 690 cases from a day earlier as investigators continued efforts to identify the source of the unusually large outbreak of the intestinal illness. The outbreak began on May 1 and has been concentrated in Michigan, with Ohio and New York also reporting a large number of infections.
On Thursday, the FDA said Taco Bell would discontinue using lettuce from a supplier identified by the agency in its investigation.
Taco Bell and the FDA did not name the supplier, but the food safety regulator said its traceback investigation identified a single supplier of iceberg lettuce from Mexico used by Taco Bell locations where people ate before becoming ill.
Taylor Farms supplied the slivered onions identified as the likely source of the 2024 E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers, which led to a recall.
Taco Bell’s daily foot traffic on July 11 was down 5.8%, a few days after reports that Taco Bell pulled ingredients from some locations, according to data firm Placer.ai.
Foodborne illness outbreaks can weigh heavily on restaurant stocks. McDonald’s faced scrutiny during a cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to salads in 2018, while Chipotle grappled with a series of E. coli and norovirus outbreaks that hurt sales, damaged consumer confidence and pressured its shares.
“The recent outbreak will likely dent (Taco Bell’s) near-term same-store sales growth,” said Ari Felhandler, an analyst at Morningstar, adding that some consumers would opt to dine at competitors outside the incident’s spotlight to mitigate perceived risk, even when prudent precautions are in place.
Yum shares dipped 2%.
An Ohio man filed a lawsuit alleging he was hospitalized with cyclosporiasis after eating at a Taco Bell in Youngstown, Ohio, and is seeking damages from Taco Bell, franchise operator Charter Foods and supplier Taylor Farms.
The FDA said it is working with the supplier to determine if potentially contaminated shredded iceberg lettuce remains on the market, and has initiated the collection of product samples for testing and analysis.
Wendy’s and Chipotle Mexican Grill said their restaurants were not hit by the cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to shredded iceberg lettuce.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal, Anuja Bharat Mistry, Sneha S K in Bengaluru and Waylon Cunningham in New York; Editing by Diti Pujara, Anil D’Silva, Rod Nickel)
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