Taco Bell Is Getting Blamed For Taylor Farms Lettuce

A close-up of a bottle labeled "Cyclospora Test" and a grocery store display showing menu items and organic produce brands. — Source:

On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) linked the recent cyclospora outbreak to produce supplied by Taylor Farms. Good on them for coming to the conclusion that had already been reached by the internet, I guess?

According to the New York Times, the CDC said that infected shredded lettuce was sent to Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. This warning comes way after the fact, as Taco Bell had already removed potentially infected produce from its stores before the CDC even said anything. The CDC added that 1,644 people reported eating at Taco Bell before becoming sick with the parasitic infection, with 94 having been hospitalized.

The outbreak has been identified as coming from a single farm in Mexico.

If you weren’t aware, cyclospora is an infectious parasite that causes diarrhea, nausea, loss of appetite, and weight loss. It’s basically a really aggressive form of food poisoning that goes on for a week and some change.

“Based on ongoing conversations with public health officials, and out of an abundance of caution, Taco Bell has taken immediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states,” Taco Bell said in a statement Thursday. “The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states.”

While it appears the media narrative is “Taco Bell causes cyclospora,” the true story is that Taylor Farms is behind the outbreak.

That part is actually more concerning because Taylor Farms is one of the biggest produce suppliers in the country. What’s interesting is that the federal government has tried to make Taco Bell the scapegoat and not the company that supplied them with the infested lettuce. Especially considering the fact that there’s a significant number of people who got sick and didn’t eat at Taco Bell.

So what could be the reasons for this? Well, the popular theory floating around is that Bruce Taylor, founder of Taylor Farms, is a Republican donor. I haven’t been able to confirm that, and public records show that the company’s political donations are fairly evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

Taylor Farms is responsible for supplying produce to countless restaurants and grocery stores. This is not their first time dealing with a cyclospora outbreak either, as one of their salad mixes was linked to an outbreak that sickened hundreds in 2013. Just as recently as 2024, Taylor Farms was considered the likely source of an E.coli outbreak stemming from onions sold at McDonald’s. That outbreak led to 104 illnesses, 34 hospitalizations, and one death.

So yeah, Taylor Farms is on top of it, y’all.

There’s also the issue that this outbreak comes only one year after the Trump administration stopped funding a program designed to monitor produce for cyclospora outbreaks. Under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership, food safety standards have fallen significantly. In addition to the cyclospora outbreak, an outbreak of New Age Screwworm has been infecting cattle for the past few months.

Wouldn’t you know it, that outbreak is also occurring as a result of funding being pulled from a program specifically designed to monitor screwworm. They were doing such a good job at it that there hadn’t been screwworm outbreaks for decades. Part of the reason it took so long for the CDC to identify where the outbreak originated is that they’re operating with less money and reduced staff.

Sure, we’re dealing with unsafe food at a time when people are struggling to even afford it, but hey, at least RFK Jr. is cracking down on seed oils and changing the food pyramid. Clearly, ol’ boy has got his priorities in check.