On September 11, 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the multistate Cyclosporaoutbreak linked to Taylor Farms de Mexico iceberg lettuce over. The final count is 12,883 laboratory-confirmed illnesses, 570 hospitalizations and 2 deaths, both in Michigan, across 21 states, with onsets from June 14 through August 17. The Food and Drug Administration says its investigation continues: onsite inspections and sampling at iceberg lettuce growers and the processing facility in Mexico have ended, and the samples are pending analysis.
Cyclosporiasis is the intestinal illness caused by Cyclospora cayetanensis, a microscopic parasite that FDA says is believed to infect only humans and to spread through human fecal matter.
The same day, FDA’s Acting Deputy Commissioner for Food, Donald A. Prater, sent the produce industry a letter about preventing the next one. An outbreak being over is not a problem solved.
CDC’s final data show two states carried two-thirds of the outbreak
Since CDC’s August 27 update, the outbreak grew by 1,425 illnesses and 75 hospitalizations and added a twenty-first state, Virginia. The state-by-state data behind CDC’s outbreak map put 5,762 illnesses in Michigan and 2,871 in Ohio, two of every three people in the outbreak. Add Missouri at 1,071 and Indiana at 870, and four states account for 82 percent.
CDC’s case count map with the September 11 final update.
FDA confirmed distribution of the recalled lettuce in 31 states. Ten of them, including New York and Florida, have no illnesses assigned to the outbreak.
How the 12,883 fits with CDC’s national count of 19,595
CDC also restamped its national case data page on September 11, with figures still as of September 8. It measures something different from the outbreak count.
| Measure | Outbreak linked to the lettuce | All cases acquired in the U.S. |
| Laboratory-confirmed cases | 12,883 | 19,595 |
| Hospitalizations | 570 | 1,043 |
| Deaths | 2 | 2 |
| States | 21 | 49 plus DC |
| Illness onsets | June 14 to Aug. 17 | May 1 to Aug. 30 |
| Data as of | Sept. 11, final | Sept. 8, still growing |
Sources: CDC and FDA outbreak pages and CDC case data page, September 11, 2026.
The outbreak count is closed by decision, not because reporting stopped. CDC will not update the outbreak page again, though cases take about six weeks to reach it and more from this outbreak will be reported. The outbreak holds about two in three of the national confirmed cases, a little over half the hospitalizations and both deaths. The maps cannot be compared state by state: the outbreak total includes visitors who got sick in one of the 21 states, while the national map places everyone in the state where they live.
CDC’s national epidemic curve, all 19,595 confirmed U.S.-acquired cases, data through September 8.
CDC’s national curve, which it publishes as a download, shows how much of the summer the lettuce explains, day by day. Both curves peak on July 10: 1,674 people nationally, 1,214 of them on the outbreak chart. The national curve starts on May 1, six weeks before the outbreak’s first case, and 798 people got sick before June 14. Compared period by period, the outbreak chart holds 51 percent of national onsets from June 14 to 30, 65 percent from July 1 to 16, 29 percent in the two weeks after the recall and 12 percent in August. The outbreak chart covers only 85 percent of outbreak cases, so those shares run low, but even adjusted for that, most people who got sick after the recall are not on it. By June 29, when Monroe County announced its cluster, 4,817 people on the national curve were already sick.
Beyond the 19,595, CDC lists 9,355 confirmed cases still being sorted into domestic or travel-acquired and at least 6,149 that are unconfirmed or awaiting an interview, for 35,099 cases in all, plus 1,997 confirmed cases acquired abroad. The states count more broadly still, as the chart below shows.
National onsets ran to August 30, thirteen days past the outbreak’s last, and 20 people got sick after August 17. About 6,700 confirmed domestic cases have no food named, down from the 8,137 I reported on September 8only because CDC added 1,425 people to the lettuce outbreak. No other source has been named. CDC says the other clusters are listed on FDA’s investigation table and that it will issue outbreak notices only if a source is found and consumers have an action to take. I will be working with epidemiologists over the coming months on where those people got sick.
Where all fifty states stand, with CDC’s numbers beside each one
The states that publish a number now report 33,742 cases this season. That sits between the 19,595 CDC has confirmed and the 35,099 it knows about, which is about where a count built from the states should land. The gaps between the columns below have ordinary explanations. CDC counts only laboratory-confirmed cases acquired in the United States during the May 1 to August 31 season. States count what their laboratories and providers report, often including probable cases, cases still pending classification and residents infected abroad; Washington’s 76 includes 47 people who traveled to a country where the parasite is endemic. Several states, including Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas and Kentucky, count the whole calendar year. The as-of dates run from July 11 to September 8, and eight states publish nothing at all.
CDC’s national case map by state of residence, data through September 8. Michigan is alone in the top range, 4,000 to 6,999; Delaware is the only state at zero.
CDC’s national map places each of the 19,595 confirmed cases in the state where the person lives and publishes only ranges. Set beside the outbreak count, which places people where they were exposed, it lines up almost everywhere. Missouri is the exception. CDC counts 1,071 outbreak illnesses in Missouri but places fewer than 200 confirmed cases of any kind among Missouri residents, while Missouri’s own health department has reported 2,152. It is not timing: CDC’s August 27 outbreak figures already had 1,010 in Missouri. CDC’s own pages suggest two possible reasons, people exposed in Missouri who live in another state and Missouri cases still among the 9,355 awaiting classification, and nothing published says which. That is a question for CDC and Missouri. The same map shows how much illness sits outside the outbreak: Texas and North Carolina each have 500 to 999 confirmed residents and 24 and 3 outbreak cases, and New York, which reports 1,042 cases itself, has at most 499 in CDC’s count and none in the outbreak.
The outbreak column is narrower still: confirmed cases CDC has tied to the lettuce, placed in the state where the person was exposed. Measured against what each state counted, it is 39 percent of Michigan’s total, 41 percent of Indiana’s, 44 percent of Kansas’s and 20 percent of Illinois’s. The two series are built differently, so treat those as rough shares, not rates. North Carolina counts 955 cases and has 3 in the outbreak; its health department says its increase does not appear to be associated with the multistate outbreak, and its patients reported eating parsley and cilantro more often than expected. In Pennsylvania, where CDC says cases are reported voluntarily, CDC’s outbreak count of 271 is higher than the last published figure I could find, 214 from August 11.
| State | 2026 cases | As of | CDC all cases | CDC outbreak | All of 2025 | Lettuce | Taylor Farms link |
| Michigan | 14,718 | Sep 3 | 4000 to 6999 | 5,762 | 50 | Yes | Linked |
| Ohio | 5,452 | Aug 13 | 1000 to 3999 | 2,871 | 76 | Yes | Linked |
| Missouri | 2,152 | Aug 23 | 50 to 199 | 1,071 | none reported | Yes | Linked |
| Indiana | 2,104 | Sep 2 | 1000 to 3999 | 870 | 27 | Yes | Linked |
| Illinois | 1,437 | Aug 18 | 1000 to 3999 | 292 | 301 | Yes | Linked |
| New York | 1,042 | Sep 8 | 200 to 499 | 0 | 694 | Yes | Unknown |
| North Carolina | 955 | Sep 1 | 500 to 999 | 3 | 300 | Yes | Linked |
| Kansas | 840 | Early Sep | 500 to 999 | 373 | 29 | Yes | Linked |
| Kentucky | 819 | Aug 12 | 500 to 999 | 366 | 45 | Yes | Linked |
| Oklahoma | 556 | Aug 25 | 200 to 499 | 269 | 41 | Yes | Linked |
| Florida | 450 | Aug 15 | 200 to 499 | 0 | 210 | Yes | Unknown |
| Iowa | 327 | Aug 20 | 50 to 199 | 138 | 64 | Yes | Linked |
| Texas | 315 | Aug 11 | 500 to 999 | 24 | 512 | Yes | Linked |
| West Virginia | 315 | Sep 4 | 200 to 499 | 170 | 8 | Yes | Linked |
| Arkansas | 287 | Aug 25 | 50 to 199 | 87 | 13 | Yes | Linked |
| Wisconsin | 284 | Aug 26 | 50 to 199 | 0 | 65 | Yes | Unknown |
| Virginia | 242 | Aug 31 | 50 to 199 | 12 | 115 | Yes | Linked |
| Nebraska | 218 | Aug 6 | 200 to 499 | 207 | 51 | Yes | Linked |
| Pennsylvania | 214 | Aug 11 | 200 to 499 | 271 | not notifiable | Yes | Linked |
| Colorado | 178 | Jul 23 | 50 to 199 | 0 | 205 | No | Unknown |
| Massachusetts | 147 | Aug 5 | 50 to 199 | 18 | 74 | Yes | Linked |
| New Hampshire | 94 | Aug 25 | 50 to 199 | 43 | 7 | Yes | Linked |
| Alabama | 85 | Aug 3 | 1 to 49 | 0 | 19 | Yes | Unknown |
| Washington | 76 | Aug 28 | 1 to 49 | 0 | not available | May have | Travel link |
| Maryland | 69 | Jul 17 | 50 to 199 | 0 | 123 | Yes | No link found |
| Utah | 48 | Aug 4 | 1 to 49 | 0 | 37 | No | No link found |
| New Jersey | 46 | Jul 11 | 50 to 199 | 0 | 180 | Yes | Unknown |
| Tennessee | 44 | Jul 16 | 50 to 199 | 7 | 38 | Yes | Linked |
| California | 41 | Jul 14 | 50 to 199 | 0 | not available | No | Travel link |
| Minnesota | 41 | Jul 17 | 50 to 199 | 0 | none reported | No | Unknown |
| Connecticut | 35 | Jul 17 | 50 to 199 | 0 | 41 | Yes | Unknown |
| Maine | 27 | Aug 7 | 1 to 49 | 26 | 4 | Yes | Linked |
| Oregon | 23 | Jul 24 | 1 to 49 | 0 | not available | No | Travel link |
| Arizona | 19 | Jul 17 | 1 to 49 | 0 | 49 | No | Unknown |
| Georgia | 11 | Jul 17 | 50 to 199 | 3 | 116 | Yes | Linked |
| Mississippi | 7 | Jul 22 | 1 to 49 | 0 | not notifiable | Yes | Unknown |
| Hawaii | 6 | Aug 26 | 1 to 49 | 0 | not available | No | No link found |
| Alaska | 5 | Jul 16 | 1 to 49 | 0 | 6 | No | Unknown |
| New Mexico | 5 | Jul 24 | 1 to 49 | 0 | 9 | No | No link found |
| Rhode Island | 4 | Jul 17 | 1 to 49 | 0 | 6 | May have | No link found |
| South Dakota | 3 | Jul 16 | 1 to 49 | 0 | 3 | May have | Unknown |
| Louisiana | 1 | Jul 17 | 50 to 199 | 0 | 99 | Yes | Unknown |
| Delaware | no count | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | May have | Unknown |
| Idaho | no count | — | 1 to 49 | 0 | not notifiable | No | Unknown |
| Montana | no count | — | 1 to 49 | 0 | 8 | No | Unknown |
| Nevada | no count | — | 1 to 49 | 0 | not notifiable | No | Unknown |
| North Dakota | no count | — | 1 to 49 | 0 | 4 | May have | Unknown |
| South Carolina | no count | — | 1 to 49 | 0 | 45 | Yes | Unknown |
| Vermont | no count | — | 1 to 49 | 0 | 3 | May have | Unknown |
| Wyoming | no count | — | 1 to 49 | 0 | 0 | No | Unknown |
| All fifty states | 33,742 | 19,595 | 12,883 | 31 | 21 |
Counts as published or stated by each state health department, compiled September 11, 2026 from the linked sources. Forty-two states report a number and they total 33,742. New York and Florida are shown on their May 1 series; no count means the state has published no 2026 figure. CDC all cases is CDC’s range for confirmed U.S.-acquired cases by state of residence as of September 8 (the District of Columbia is 1 to 49); CDC publishes it only in ranges. CDC outbreak is its final September 11 count for the lettuce outbreak by state of exposure. Lettuce is whether FDA confirmed that recalled product reached the state. Every count is a floor.
What changed since my September 8 chart: a new column carries CDC’s national range for each state, the outbreak column is now CDC’s final per-state count rather than August 27 figures, and Virginia joined the outbreak with 12 cases. New York posted 1,042 cases through September 8, up from 939. Kansas is at 840. Colorado, Utah and New Mexico are updated from later reports to 178, 48 and 5; Utah says all but five of its 48 traveled. Michigan’s 14,718 stands until the state’s next update on October 1.
Ninety-six percent of the people on CDC’s chart were sick before the recall
CDC’s epidemic curve covers 10,949 people, 85 percent of the outbreak, whose onset dates are known. Illnesses came in two waves, a smaller one peaking June 24 and a far larger one on July 8, 9 and 10, when 1,047, 1,096 and 1,214 people got sick. Those three days account for 3,357 people, nearly a third of the chart. By the July 17 recall, 96 percent of the people on the chart had already fallen ill. In all of August, 27 did.
CDC’s outbreak epidemic curve, September 11. The recall came on July 17, after the tallest bars.
The outbreak was first identified on June 29, when the Monroe County Health Department in Michigan announced it was investigating a cluster. About 2,100 people on CDC’s chart were already sick. Symptoms usually begin about a week after exposure, so most people who fell ill July 8 to 10 probably ate contaminated lettuce in early July, after the cluster was public and two weeks or more before the recall. I cannot say how many faster tracing would have protected. That window is what the federal traceability rule was written for.
Testing finished lettuce would not have caught it. As of August 27, FDA reported no confirmed positive product samples, and Taylor Farms has disclosed that roughly 2,000 samples of its own, taken in central Mexico since May, came back negative. Prevention has to happen before the lettuce is cut.
FDA’s letter to the produce industry points to the right places
The letter is addressed to every link in the chain, at home and abroad. It reminds industry that it must apply science-based water management, worker hygiene and sanitation under the Produce Safety Rule, and that processors need strong supplier programs. It asks every organization to find where practices fall short and develop new science-based ones, and says FDA wants to work with an industry coalition on an ongoing basis.
The letter does not name Taylor Farms, iceberg lettuce, Mexico or the number of people who got sick, and it sets no deadline or new requirement. It is still right about where the answer is: water, workers and suppliers.
The call for new practices is also an honest one. FDA’s own Cyclospora Prevention, Response and Research Action Plan, released in 2021, says typical chemical treatments used on farms are not effective against the parasite and that farmers have limited options once it is in the environment. In August the agency’s fresh-cut guidance acknowledged the same thing about wash water in processing plants.
Four things that would prevent the next Cyclospora outbreak
Finish the investigation and publish it, water results included. The sample results from the growers and the plant, and a root cause analysis, belong on the new prevention page FDA says it will post. This is not the first Cyclospora outbreak traced to Taylor Farms de Mexico. In 2013 the company said it was testing the water at Doctor Mora, in Guanajuato, and FDA let the plant reopen. Thirteen years later, I have not found a single public result.
Test the water for the parasite, not just for bacteria. The Produce Safety Rule’s water standards are built around generic E. coli, a bacterial indicator, and the 2024 revision replaced numeric pre-harvest testing with annual written assessments. Neither was designed to find a chlorine-resistant parasite. FDA has had a validated method for detecting Cyclospora in agricultural water since 2020. Growers in regions with repeat outbreaks can run it through the season, and buyers and importers can require it in their supplier programs, starting next spring. Field toilets, handwashing and worker health rules are already required and should be verified in the field during harvest.
Make traceability enforceable now. The Food Traceability Rule requires companies handling leafy greens and other high-risk foods to keep lot-level records and hand them to FDA within 24 hours. Its January 20, 2026 compliance date was pushed to July 20, 2028, and in November 2025 Congress barred FDA from spending money to enforce it before then. That provision can be repealed in the next appropriations bill. The International Fresh Produce Association called in July for Congress and the administration to implement end-to-end traceability, and Western Growers told the Guardian it supports the rule. That is the beginning of the coalition FDA says it wants.
Fund the laboratories and the testing that find outbreaks. Whole genome sequencing is not available for Cyclospora the way it is for Salmonella, which is why genotyping by CDC and state laboratories matters. In August it gave this investigation its first laboratory evidence that the illnesses shared a common source. Testing sick people matters too. A nurse practitioner at a Lee County, Florida clinic serving mainly uninsured patients told Gulf Coast News Now the clinic was not testing anyone, because testing is expensive for the uninsured. An outbreak is found only as fast as sick people are counted.
I would like to go out of the lettuce business
I have been suing lettuce companies for nearly thirty years. I used to be in the hamburger business, too. From the Jack in the Box outbreak in 1993 through the ConAgra recall in 2002, E. coli in ground beef was a large share of my practice, and today it is close to zero. That happened because USDA declared E. coli O157:H7 an adulterant in ground beef in 1994, the industry learned to test for it, and the rules were enforced. It is the best thing to happen in food safety in my lifetime, and I was glad to lose that business.
FDA’s letter asks the produce industry to build that kind of change alongside the agency. I hope it works, and that the coalition includes the investigators who find these outbreaks and the families who live through them. The lettuce is off the shelves and the outbreak is over. The conditions that put a parasite from human waste onto lettuce bound for 21 states are still there, and the season starts again on May 1.
Recent Comments