As of Thursday, August 27, 2026, six reported foodborne illness outbreaks are running at the same time in the United States, and between them they account for 11,549 reported illnesses, at least 552 hospitalizations and two deaths. They are Cyclospora in iceberg lettuce, E. coli and Salmonella in alfalfa sprouts, Salmonella in jalapeño peppers, E. coli in frozen blueberries, Salmonella in shell eggs nationally, and a separate Salmonellaoutbreak traced to eggs from a single ranch in San Diego County. Here is where each one stands.
| Outbreak | Pathogen | Sick | States | In hospital | Died | Updated |
| Iceberg lettuce | Cyclospora | 10,930 | 17 | 454 | 2 | CDC, Aug 20 |
| Alfalfa sprouts | E. coli (3 strains), SalmonellaAgona | 55 | 15 | 4 | 0 | FDA, Aug 24 |
| Jalapeño peppers | SalmonellaJaviana | 431 | 32 | 57 | 0 | FDA, Aug 21 |
| Frozen blueberries | E. coliO145:H28 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 0 | FDA, Jul 30 |
| Shell eggs | SalmonellaEnteritidis | 98 | 17 | 26 | 0 | FDA, Jul 24 |
| Ramona eggs | Salmonella | 23 | 1 | 7 | 0 | County, Aug 21 |
| Total | 11,549 | 552 | 2 |
Table 1. The six outbreaks open as of August 27, 2026. Case, hospitalization and death figures are taken from each agency’s own current page on the date shown in the last column. The Sick column sums to 11,549 and the In-hospital column sums to 552. The five federal outbreaks count laboratory-confirmed illnesses only. The San Diego County figure includes confirmed and suspected cases, and its states column is California alone. Compiled from the linked pages, retrieved August 27, 2026.
The iceberg lettuce outbreak is 10,930 sick, and the national Cyclospora count crossed 17,000 this week
CDC’s outbreak page has not moved since August 20, when it put the Taylor Farms de Mexico iceberg lettuce outbreak at 10,930 illnesses in seventeen states, at least 454 hospitalizations and two deaths, both in Michigan, with onsets running June 14 through August 11. What moved instead was the national picture. On August 25 CDC posted new surveillance data current through August 24: 17,180 laboratory-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis acquired in the United States since May 1, with 922 hospitalizations, across forty-eight states and the District of Columbia. The comparison figure for the same stretch of 2025 is 1,180. CDC says it is aware of at least 11,844 further cases that are not laboratory confirmed or still need investigation, plus 1,805 confirmed cases in people who had been traveling abroad. Hold two of those numbers together. The outbreak carries 454 hospitalizations. The country carries 922. The recalled lettuce accounts for just under half of the people this parasite has put in a hospital bed this summer. CDC also reported on August 20 that genotyping shows the parasites from sick people in the outbreak are genetically related, which is evidence they came from a common source. The cyclosporiasis season closes on August 31.
Everything Sprouts issued the alfalfa sprout recall on August 22, and the lot numbers are 222, 223, 225, 226 and 230
Everything Sprouts, LLC of Minneapolis issued a recall on August 22, one day after FDA posted an advisorynaming its alfalfa sprouts and said it had recommended one. The recalled product is 5-ounce plastic containers of alfalfa sprouts under both the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands in lots 222, 223, 225, 226 and 230, plus Everything Sprouts Crunchy Protein Sprout Mix cups in lots 222, 223, 226 and 230 and Zesty Garlic Mix cups in lots 222, 223, 225, 226 and 230. The sprouts went out between May 27 and August 21 to wholesale distributors, grocery stores and restaurants in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The outbreak is fifty-five people in fifteen states, four hospitalized, no deaths, with onsets from May 31 through August 8. Four organisms came out of one product: E. coli O26:H11, O103:H25 and O168:H8, and Salmonella Agona. Forty-six people had E. coli, seven had Salmonella and two had both. Of thirty-four people interviewed, twenty-six ate alfalfa sprouts. FDA opened an inspection and began sampling at the plant on August 19, sixteen months after warning the same company in a March 2025 letter. I wrote up the recall in more detail here.
The jalapeño outbreak is 431 sick in thirty-two states, and the grower in Sinaloa still has no name
FDA last updated the jalapeño advisory on August 21. The count is 431 people in thirty-two states with fifty-seven hospitalizations and no deaths, onsets running June 19 through August 2. Of 224 people interviewed, 203 of them, ninety-one percent, ate at a Mexican-style restaurant before getting sick, with meal dates from June 14 through July 16. The peppers came from Sinaloa, Mexico and were imported by Coast Citrus Distributors, and the grower has still not been named publicly. What did improve is the paperwork. On August 20 FDA created a Major Product Recalls page that collects every downstream recall in one place, which matters because this one ingredient moved through a dozen manufacturers and retailers, including Taylor Fresh Foods, Whole Foods, NatureBest, Albertsons, Salata and Hardie’s, plus a USDA public health alert covering meat and poultry products made with the same peppers. Until last week a shopper had to reconstruct that list from separate notices. One page is better. It is also the kind of thing that should exist on day one of a multi-company recall rather than five weeks in. My longer piece on this outbreak runs the epidemic curve out to August 2.
The frozen blueberry count has not moved since July 6, and the recalled bags are good until 2028
This is the quietest of the six and the one most likely to still be in a house. Twelve people are sick with E. coliO145:H28, eleven in Florida and one in Georgia, four of them hospitalized, and that count has been unchanged since July 6. Onsets ran May 11 through June 5, which makes today the eighty-third day since the last known illness. FDA’s advisory was last touched on July 30. No root cause has been published, no environmental assessment, and no positive product or environmental sample. What FDA did at the Chilean packer, Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur, was a remote regulatory assessment and a records collection rather than an on-site inspection, followed by an import alert. Here is the part that keeps this outbreak live for consumers: Publix recalled all lots of GreenWise Organic Whole Blueberries and Whole Mixed Berries in 10-ounce and 48-ounce bags, and the recall reaches product with expiration dates before February 9, 2028. Nobody cleans out a freezer on a schedule. I wrote earlier that blueberries had never done this before, and that is still true, and there is still no published explanation of how it happened.
The recalled shell eggs went out of date ten days ago and the advisory is thirty-four days old
The Midwest Poultry Services shell egg outbreak stands at ninety-eight people in seventeen states with twenty-six hospitalizations, and FDA has not touched the advisory since July 24. The recall covered shell eggs with sell-by or best-by dates between July 20 and August 17, 2026, sold under the Country Morning, Cal-Maine Sunups, Brookshire’s, Simple Truth and Kroger labels, carrying plant code P-1950 or 0840962 with Julian dates 157 through 184 printed on the side of the carton. August 17 has passed, so every carton in that recall is now out of date. Out of date is not the same as over. Eggs get used past the printed date, and more to the point, FDA’s own text says Midwest Poultry does not account for all the illnesses in this outbreak. Eleven of the seventeen states with sick people were never confirmed to have received the recalled eggs. An investigation with that sentence sitting in it is not finished, and the page describing it has not moved in thirty-four days.
San Diego County counts twenty-three sick from Ramona eggs, and there is still no recall
This is a second, entirely separate egg outbreak, involving a different Salmonella strain, and the County says so expressly. On August 21 San Diego County put it at twenty-three confirmed and suspected cases and for the first time split it into its two halves: eighteen illnesses tied to the house-made mayonnaise sold at Ramona Family Naturals Market, which the County calls Ramona Red Sauce, and five in people who got sick from Happy Hens eggs without ever going near the deli. Seven people have been hospitalized, and the most recent case was detected on August 16. The County named Happy Hens on August 17, and the ranch has publicly denied the link. There is still no recall, no consumer warning telling anyone to stop eating these eggs, and no published list of the stores and restaurants that received them. A California Department of Food and Agriculture spokesperson has confirmed that FDA inspected the farm. Marler Clark has filed suit in San Diego Superior Court against both the market and the ranch. I laid out the split here.
Fourteen more federal investigations are open, and eleven of them name no food at all
FDA’s investigations table ran to nineteen open files as of August 26, carrying 12,201 illnesses. Take out the five federal outbreaks above and fourteen remain, and eleven of those fourteen name no food at all. Those eleven carry 528 people between them. The newest arrived on August 26, a Salmonella Newport file with eighty-four people already in it, a traceback opened, no on-site inspection, no sampling and no advisory, which means there is no page telling anybody what to avoid. Also, with no food named: Salmonella Oranienburg at ninety-nine, Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:- at forty-one, an E. coli O157:H7 file at fourteen, a Listeria file at nine, and six more Cyclospora files carrying 281 people between them. Three of the fourteen do name a food. The infant botulism investigation involving powdered infant formula is four babies, all four hospitalized, and it has not been updated since July 6. The moringa leaf powder outbreak, 131 sick, is finished and still carried as active. And the Listeria outbreak in requesón and soft ricotta that killed someone was closed this week at fifteen sick, fourteen hospitalized and one dead, after running three years and four months. At the state level, Kansas is investigating a Salmonella outbreak tied to the Axtell Days festival. The full nineteen-file table is in yesterday’s post.
Three questions
I have alfalfa sprouts in the refrigerator. What am I looking for?
Look for the Calco or Everything Sprouts brand on a 5-ounce plastic container and check the lot number against 222, 223, 225, 226 and 230. The same sprouts went into Everything Sprouts Crunchy Protein Sprout Mix cups and Zesty Garlic Mix cups. Throw them out or take them back for a refund. If you moved them into another container and cannot tell, throw them out. Wash and sanitize whatever they touched, because both E. coli and Salmonella transfer to surfaces. Sprouts are eaten raw and there is no step in making them that kills a pathogen, which is why the same product keeps showing up on lists like this one.
The recalled eggs and the recalled lettuce are past their dates. Does that mean these outbreaks are over?
For the food on the shelf, largely yes. For the investigations, no. FDA has said in its own advisory that Midwest Poultry does not account for all ninety-eight egg illnesses, and eleven of the seventeen states with sick people were never confirmed to have received the recalled eggs. On the Cyclospora side, onset dates in the outbreak run through August 11, and it can take about six weeks from the day a person gets sick to the day CDC has the case, so illnesses that began in July are still arriving. Numbers that stop moving on a web page are not the same thing as illnesses that stop happening.
I was sick this summer and never got tested. Does it still matter?
It does, and it is the single most useful thing an individual can do about the eleven files with no food named. If you had prolonged watery diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, or a fever that would not break, ask your doctor for a stool test rather than accepting a presumptive diagnosis, and ask the laboratory to hold onto the isolate. Sequencing an isolate is how one person’s illness becomes part of a cluster, and a cluster is what gets an agency to name a food. The 528 people sitting behind that Not Yet Identified column got there one confirmed test at a time. If you are still symptomatic, see a provider now rather than waiting.
Six outbreaks. Eleven thousand five hundred and forty-nine people counted. Two of the six advisories have not been touched in a month, eleven federal files have no food attached to them, and the Cyclospora season closes on August 31 with the reporting lag guaranteeing that those numbers keep climbing well into September. Every page linked above is public and updated on a schedule. Almost nobody reads them.
Working with Marler Clark
Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, represents victims of foodborne illness nationwide. Here are answers to the questions people ask us most often.
FAQ
How much does it cost to hire a food poisoning lawyer?
Marler Clark handles food poisoning cases on a contingency-fee basis. There is no charge for the initial consultation, and no attorney’s fees unless we obtain a recovery for you through a settlement or verdict. When your case concludes, you receive a full written accounting of all fees and expenses for your approval before any money is disbursed.
Do I have a food poisoning case?
The strongest cases share three things: a laboratory-confirmed infection, usually from a stool sample; a documented link between your illness and a specific food, restaurant, or product, often through a public health investigation or a genetic match to an outbreak strain; and real damages such as hospitalization, lasting injury, or lost income. A free case evaluation is the fastest way to learn where you stand.
How much is a food poisoning lawsuit worth?
Every case is different. Value depends on the severity and permanence of the injury, medical expenses, lost wages, and how strongly the illness can be tied to a contaminated food. Cases range from short, self-resolving illnesses to catastrophic injuries such as kidney failure or paralysis. We can offer a realistic assessment after reviewing your medical records and the outbreak evidence.
How long do I have to file a claim?
Statutes of limitation set the deadline for filing a lawsuit, and they vary by state and by the type of injury—sometimes as little as one year. Because evidence like receipts, leftover product, and medical samples can disappear quickly, it is best to speak with a lawyer as soon as possible.
Does Marler Clark handle cases nationwide?
Yes. We represent clients across the country and have litigated food poisoning cases in more than 35 states. Claims are often referred to us by attorneys elsewhere, and we work with local counsel where needed, so you do not have to live in Washington to work with us.
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