The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday declared an end to the largest recorded multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak in the United States, closing a summer food-safety crisis tied to processed iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico.

CDC’s final update, dated Sept. 11, 2026, puts the toll at 12,883 laboratory-confirmed cases, 570 hospitalizations, and 2 deaths across 21 states. Contaminated lettuce linked to the outbreak is no longer available in stores or restaurants, the agency said, and recent infections have fallen sharply from the peak.

“This outbreak has ended,” CDC wrote in its food-safety alert. “The number of recent infections linked to the outbreak has significantly declined. The contaminated lettuce linked to this outbreak is no longer available in stores or restaurants.” The page is CDC’s final update for the alert.

Federal investigators linked the cluster to processed iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico that was contaminated with Cyclospora. On July 17, 2026, Taylor Farms de Mexico recalled all iceberg lettuces sourced from central Mexico. Before that recall, CDC said, more than 1,000 infections occurred in a single day at the outbreak’s peak. In August, fewer than two infections per day occurred on average.

Best-by dates for all product linked to the outbreak have passed. “At this time, there is no risk of people getting sick with cyclosporiasis from this source,” CDC said.

FDA still investigating the contamination

Ending the outbreak alert is not the same as explaining how the parasite got into the supply. As of Sept. 11, the Food and Drug Administration “continues to investigate the cause of the contamination that led to this multistate outbreak,” CDC noted, and may post further updates on its own site.

Reuters, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and CNBC all reported the same closeout Friday: the Taylor Farms–linked cluster is over, product is off the market, and FDA’s root-cause work continues. Reuters put the outbreak in larger context — the 12,883 linked cases accounted for more than half of the 19,595 laboratory-confirmed domestically acquired U.S. cyclosporiasis cases reported since May 1 — and noted completed FDA on-site inspections and sampling at Mexican growers and the processing facility, with sample analysis still pending.

FDA’s earlier investigation pages also recorded two deaths in Michigan, the hardest-hit state, in people with significant underlying health conditions; both had illness onset before the July 17 voluntary recall. Food-safety attorney Bill Marler’s Marler Blog, citing those figures and CDC’s closeout, emphasized the Michigan deaths alongside FDA’s same-day industry letter.

Same-day letter to the produce industry

On the same day CDC closed the alert, FDA Acting Deputy Commissioner for Food Donald A. Prater sent a letter to produce growers, harvesters, packers, processors, distributors, importers, and retailers — domestic and foreign — calling for stronger, science-based controls against future Cyclospora outbreaks.

The letter does not name Taylor Farms, iceberg lettuce, or Mexico. It does remind industry of Produce Safety Rule duties on agricultural water, worker hygiene, and sanitation; presses processors on supplier programs; and asks importers for rigorous foreign-supplier verification. “While there are practices known to reduce Cyclospora risk, more work must be done,” Prater wrote.

That framing lands on a familiar American pattern: a single concentrated supplier line can move a parasite through restaurants and groceries in dozens of states before recall catch-up, while the regulator’s “how” investigation lags the “outbreak over” headline. CDC’s consumer guidance still stands for other sources — wash hands and produce under running water, cook produce to at least 158°F (70°C) when possible, and follow recalls — because washing alone cannot guarantee Cyclospora removal.

Symptoms of cyclosporiasis typically begin about a week after exposure (ranging from about two days to two weeks or more) and commonly include watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, cramping, bloating, gas, nausea, and fatigue.

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