Federal and state health officials are investigating whether Taco Bell restaurants played a role in one of the largest U.S. outbreaks of a gastrointestinal illness tied to contaminated produce, according to two people familiar with the probe who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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The illness, cyclosporiasis, has sickened thousands of Americans and hospitalized more than 80 people across more than 30 states, raising questions about the reliability of the nation’s fresh-produce supply chain and the speed with which regulators can trace contamination once an outbreak takes hold.
Notices posted at some Detroit-area Taco Bell locations last week informed customers the chain was “currently unable to sell Lettuce, Cilantro Onion, Pico de Gallo, and Guacamole due to a nationwide recall,” according to media reports. Taco Bell has not publicly explained the move or responded to multiple requests for comment, leaving customers and investigators waiting on answers from the company.
Authorities have not identified a specific grower or supplier responsible for the outbreak, and officials caution there could be more than one source. Michigan, the hardest-hit state with more than 2,600 cases, said Monday that leafy lettuce is the leading suspected culprit based on interviews with more than 1,000 patients.
“While the investigation is ongoing, current results point to lettuce or salad greens as a potential source for this outbreak, although other food items cannot be completely ruled out,” the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said in a release.
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“Although we do not have a definite product identified as the source of the outbreak, we want to let Michiganders know what we have learned so far so they can take steps to protect their families,” said Natasha Bagdasarian, the state’s chief medical executive. “Early information has shown lettuce as a common product that regularly comes up during the investigation,” she said.
One person familiar with the national investigation credited Taco Bell for acting before regulators had pinpointed a cause. “It’s good the chain has already voluntarily stopped serving a number of items,” the person said. But that same source noted the outbreak likely extends well beyond the restaurant chain: some patients who fell ill had eaten at Taco Bell, while others who got sick had not, suggesting a broader breakdown somewhere upstream in the produce supply chain.
Cyclospora is notoriously difficult to trace because of the lag between exposure and the onset of symptoms, which leaves patients struggling to recall what they ate days or weeks earlier. Health officials also believe cases are significantly undercounted, since many people recover at home without seeking medical care or being tested — meaning the true scale of this outbreak may be considerably larger than official tallies suggest.
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