A nationwide food-safety investigation has grown into the largest known U.S. Cyclospora outbreak this year, with federal officials tracing a significant share of cases to shredded iceberg lettuce. On July 24, President Donald Trump responded to questions about when lettuce would be safe to eat again by saying the U.S. was going to put “a major tariff” on Mexico because of the lettuce, shifting attention from the public-health response to trade. His remark came as the FDA and CDC widened their multistate investigation and reiterated that recalled product should not be consumed.
Trump’s tariff remark came as the outbreak reached 1,947 linked cases
Trump made the comment on Friday, July 24, after being asked when it would be safe to eat lettuce again. According to the Associated Press, he said his government was “going to put a major tariff on tax on Mexico because of the lettuce,” while federal agencies were still focused on a foodborne-illness investigation rather than any announced trade action.
That same day, the FDA said the outbreak under its nine-state investigation included 1,947 people infected with Cyclospora who reported exposure to Taco Bell, with illnesses beginning between June 22 and July 20. The agency said there had been at least 98 hospitalizations and no reported deaths.
The FDA said the outbreak now spans Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It also said traceback data and outbreak evidence continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico, which announced on July 17 that it was voluntarily removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market and initiating a recall.
The nine-state outbreak identified by the FDA is the clearest confirmed cluster tied to recalled lettuce and Taco Bell exposure. Those states are in the Midwest and nearby regions, and federal officials have not said that every Cyclospora illness reported nationally is tied to the same product or supply chain.
That distinction matters because the broader national outbreak is much larger. The Associated Press reported that, since May 1, the CDC had received more than 4,100 laboratory-confirmed Cyclospora cases and was investigating more than 7,400 other likely cases across 41 states. Federal officials also said other brands, restaurants, retailers or distribution channels could still be connected as the investigation continues.
What is not yet known is the full list of every restaurant, retailer or food-service site that may have received affected lettuce beyond the recall notices already published. The FDA has identified the supplier and the recalled product category, but the agency has continued to describe the inquiry as ongoing, and it has not said that the source of every U.S. case has been definitively resolved.
Reuters reported that Cyclospora has been especially hard to trace because symptoms can take up to two weeks to appear, making it harder for patients to remember exactly what they ate and where. The parasite also cannot be cultured in laboratories the way bacteria such as Salmonella or E. coli can, limiting the use of genetic fingerprinting tools that investigators often rely on in foodborne outbreaks.
The FDA said it had previously disclosed a border sample that later turned out to be a false positive, but the agency stated that reversal did not alter the basis for the investigation. The agency said its traceback work and epidemiological evidence still support the recall tied to Taylor Farms de Mexico and growers in central Mexico.
Mexican officials have disputed that the lettuce has been proven to be the cause, saying the parasite was not detected in lettuce or water at the Guanajuato plant, according to AP and Reuters coverage. For consumers and restaurants, the most immediate guidance remains unchanged: do not eat recalled iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico, and expect the federal investigation to continue as agencies sort out whether additional products or channels were involved.