Mexican cilantro contaminated with fecal matter triggered four separate US outbreaks between 2012 and 2015.
Now federal investigators are at Taco Bell's door.
And the ingredients under suspicion all come from across the border.
The Outbreak That's Already in Michigan's Record Books
More than 4,000 Americans have been sickened by a microscopic parasite called Cyclospora cayetanensis since May.
Michigan alone has confirmed over 2,600 cases – the largest cyclosporiasis outbreak in that state's history.
Thirty-one states have reported infections.
Federal and state health officials are now investigating whether Taco Bell restaurants played a role, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.
Signs appeared at Detroit-area Taco Bell locations telling customers the restaurants could not serve lettuce, cilantro, onions, pico de gallo, or guacamole due to "a national recall."
Every item on that list – lettuce, cilantro, fresh pico de gallo – is exactly the kind of raw, imported produce that has delivered Cyclospora to American restaurants for over a decade.
Taco Bell and Yum! Brands did not respond to requests for comment.
Michigan health officials say the investigation points to lettuce or salad greens as the most likely culprit, though no specific supplier has been named.
This Parasite Has One Address: South of the Border
Here's what the mainstream media won't tell you about this outbreak.
For most of its US history, Cyclospora has not been a domestic pathogen.
The FDA has long maintained that domestic outbreaks trace back to imported fresh produce – overwhelmingly from Mexico.
From 2012 through 2015, the FDA and CDC investigated four consecutive years of Cyclospora outbreaks linked to fresh cilantro from the state of Puebla, Mexico.
Investigators found farms and packing houses in Puebla where field conditions allowed human fecal contamination to reach the produce – the only known transmission route for this parasite.
The FDA eventually issued Import Alert 24-23, restricting cilantro imports from Puebla every year from April through August.
In 2013, traceback investigations identified salad mix from Taylor Farms de Mexico and cilantro from Puebla as the vehicles in a multistate outbreak hitting 631 Americans.
In 2018, McDonald's pulled salads from 14 states after Cyclospora was confirmed in a romaine lettuce and carrot mix – tainted lettuce imported from Mexico was suspected as the source.
Five hundred and seven Americans got sick before it was over.
The Supply Chain Nobody Wants to Fix
The mechanism is always the same.
Fresh produce gets irrigated with contaminated water on open fields abroad, then shipped north through a distribution network with multiple handoff points and no kill step along the way.
It arrives at American restaurants raw, served directly to customers with nothing to stop the parasite.
Frozen vegetables escape this problem because commercial processing blanches them in boiling water – Cyclospora dies at 158 degrees Fahrenheit.
Fresh lettuce, cilantro, and pico de gallo have no such protection.
A 2023 Cyclospora outbreak at an Alabama restaurant was traced back to cilantro from a Texas firm with no identified food manufacturing license that sourced the product directly from Mexico.
The cilantro cleared the border, reached a restaurant, and sickened 47 people before investigators pieced together where it came from.
That's the supply chain feeding America's fast-food restaurants right now.
What You Need to Know Right Now
Cyclospora is treatable with antibiotics.
If you've had persistent watery diarrhea for more than a few days – especially after eating at a fast-food restaurant or consuming fresh salads, cilantro, or raw greens in the past several weeks – see a doctor and ask specifically to be tested for Cyclospora.
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Standard stool tests often miss it.
Avoid fresh, raw leafy greens and fresh salsas until investigators name a source and a recall is announced.
Frozen and cooked vegetables are safe.
No deaths have been reported, and the FDA has not issued a formal recall involving Taco Bell as of publication.
But 4,000 Americans are sick, and the lettuce, cilantro, and pico de gallo sitting under that "national recall" sign has traveled the same supply routes that have been delivering this parasite to American kitchens for over a decade.
At some point, the question stops being "which restaurant" and starts being "why are we still importing this stuff?"
Sources:
- Lena H. Sun, "Authorities investigate Taco Bell and lettuce as cyclosporiasis outbreak surges," The Washington Post, July 14, 2026.
- Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, "Cyclospora Outbreak Investigation Update," MDHHS Newsroom, July 13, 2026.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Import Alert 24-23: Detention Without Physical Examination of Cilantro from Puebla, Mexico," FDA, updated August 2022.
- Food Safety Magazine Staff, "Outbreak Investigations of Cyclospora cayetanensis Infections 2013–2020," Food Safety Magazine, May 2022.
- CDC/MMWR, "Outbreak of Cyclosporiasis Among Patrons of a Mexican-Style Restaurant – Limestone County, Alabama, May–June 2023," April 2025.