Post-Outbreak Response Activities: Multistate Outbreaks of Cyclospora Illnesses

From May through September 2026, the FDA, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state partners, investigated multiple Cyclospora outbreaks. As of September 15, the CDC reported 19,883 laboratory confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis in the United States. These data include more than 12,000 cases from one large multistate outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico and recalled by Taylor Farms de Mexico. On September 11, 2026, the CDC declared the multistate outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce over. On October 2, 2026, the FDA declared its investigation into the outbreak over.

Outbreak Overview: Multistate Outbreak of Cyclospora Illnesses Linked to Iceberg Lettuce

On July 16, 2026, the FDA and CDC, in collaboration with state and local partners, first announced they were investigating a multistate outbreak of Cyclospora illnesses linked to iceberg lettuce. On July 17, 2026, the agencies announced that traceback had converged on a single supplier of the iceberg lettuce, Taylor Farms de Mexico, who then initiated a voluntary recall on the same day. The federal agencies, along with state partners, continued work to determine the number of people with cyclosporiasis who had consumed the recalled lettuce across an expanding number of states. On August 20, 2026, the FDA announced that it had initiated onsite inspections and sample collection at lettuce growers in Mexico.

On September 11, 2026, CDC announced that the outbreak had ended. On October 2, 2026, the FDA released final sample results from the samples collected during the onsite inspections in Mexico and closed the outbreak investigation. Additional information on the investigation and the findings can be found on the outbreak investigation page.

Additional updates regarding post-response activities will be provided below.

FDA’s Ongoing Post-Response Activities

The FDA has transitioned to post-response, prevention-oriented activities.

Immediate Actions

In the immediate response to this outbreak, the FDA took the following actions:

During the week of September 8, 2026, senior FDA and Mexican public health and agricultural officials met to discuss recent outbreaks and ways to strengthen prevention efforts under the Food Safety Partnership between the U.S. and Mexico.
The FDA conducted an outbreak investigation into the outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce produced by Taylor Farms de Mexico and has transitioned to post-outbreak response activities, including continuing its investigation into the root cause of the outbreak. The FDA is committed to sharing the findings, and plans to incorporate lessons learned into the Cyclospora Prevention, Response and Research Action Plan, as well as use those findings to inform future outbreak response and prevention efforts.
The FDA sent a letter to industry calling for collaboration to address Cyclospora contamination throughout the supply chain.

FDA’s Planned Activities Prior to the 2027 Growing Season

In advance of the 2027 growing and harvesting season, the FDA will increase activities focused on surveillance, outreach, and finding innovative solutions to prevent Cyclospora contamination of fresh produce. The ten activities outlined below reflect FDA’s plans for short-term actions to mitigate risks during the 2027 growing and harvesting season and help to keep safe, nutritious produce on American tables. The FDA is committed to:

Publishing an Outbreak Investigation Report, which will summarize the outbreak investigation, review the potential factors contributing to the contamination of imported, shredded iceberg lettuce by Cyclospora, and provide recommendations to help prevent future outbreaks.
Increasing surveillance of commodities historically associated with Cyclospora, and the production of those commodities, to better inform our understanding of contamination levels and effective sampling strategies.
Conducting more outreach and public engagement domestically and abroad to raise awareness of current and prospective food safety requirements, such as the Produce Safety Rule, the Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule, and the Food Traceability Rule, and helping to ensure that growers adopt effective practices that reduce the risk of Cyclospora in produce for American consumers.
Enhancing laboratory capacity in Mexico to collect, analyze, and process samples for Cyclospora investigations in-country, reducing the time needed to get final laboratory analyses.
Leveraging new and alternative data sources and tools to monitor environmental factors, such as weather events, that may lead to Cyclospora spread, and evaluating that information to determine whether it is an indicator of potential issues, while developing knowledge to build prevention strategies for the future.
Collaborating with Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture, COFEPRIS, and SENASICA to expand food safety education and training opportunities for their fresh produce industry to strengthen Cyclospora prevention practices and reduce the risk of contamination of fresh produce.
Convening expert panels on worker health and hygiene, water and wastewater monitoring, and gaps that need to be addressed to improve growing and processing practices for certain fresh produce — directly targeting the conditions most likely to introduce Cyclospora into the fresh produce supply.
Working with CDC to enhance and align genotyping methods for Cyclospora, to create a single, replicable standard within the Federal Government, with Partner Nations, and in the industry as a whole to make it faster and easier to trace outbreaks back to their source.
Increasing and further leveraging Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) inspections to help ensure that importers are considering Cyclospora contamination as a part of their hazard analysis and supplier verification to ensure imported fresh produce meets U.S. safety standards.
Taking lessons learned from the investigation and any root cause analysis of this specific outbreak to update the Cyclospora Prevention, Response and Research Action Plan with longer-term prevention, response, research, and programmatic activities, laying the groundwork for stronger prevention and response in future growing seasons.