By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
It’s once again safe to eat salads, as the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC) announced Friday that the cyclospora outbreak involving iceberg lettuce, which sickened people in 21 states including Kentucky, is now officially over.
According to the CDC, there is no risk of people getting sick with cyclosporiasis from this source. The best-by dates for all products linked to this outbreak have passed and it is no longer available in stores or restaurants.
In addition, CDC officials say they have seen a significant decrease in recent infections linked to this outbreak. At the peak of the outbreak, before the recall, more than 1,000 infections occurred in a single day. Fewer than 2 infections per day on average occurred in August.
In July, CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began investigating a multistate outbreak of cyclospora infections in July 2026.
The investigation linked the outbreak to processed iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico that was contaminated with cyclospora. On July 17, Taylor Farms de Mexico recalled all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico.
The CDC says 12,883 people were sickened in this multistate cyclospora outbreak, including 366 in Kentucky. The state with the most infections was Michigan, with 5,762. The only two deaths due to the outbreak also occurred in Michigan. Both of those victims also had underlying health conditions, health officials said.
The CDC adds that the true number of sick people in this outbreak was also likely much higher than the number reported. This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for cyclospora.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, is continuing their own investigation into how the lettuce linked to this multistate outbreak became contaminated in the first place with cyclospora.