Taylor Farms to remove some products after link to Cyclospora cases

Taylor Farms, one of the nation’s largest producers of leafy greens and fresh vegetables, said Friday that it would remove its products at the center of a cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened more than 1,600 people.

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Based in Salinas, California, the family-owned company is in the spotlight after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked an outbreak of cyclosporiasis to iceberg lettuce that Taylor Farms supplied to certain Taco Bell restaurants, according to two federal officials who declined to be named Thursday night.

The company said in an email Friday that it had “promptly initiated a voluntary removal of product” based on information provided by the Food and Drug Administration this week. “We are committed to taking proactive actions,” the company said.

Taylor Farms is a vegetable behemoth, selling more than $7 billion worth of produce each year to grocery stores and restaurant chains. It grows food in more than a dozen states, as well as in Mexico and Canada, and has 30 processing facilities and 25,000 employees. Last year it said it made more than 40% of all salad kits sold in American groceries and provided 265 million servings of fresh vegetables each week.

But much of its sales to grocery retailers and restaurants are a mystery. The company — like other food producers — does not disclose which grocery stores or restaurants use its leafy greens or other vegetables.

Adding to the confusion, Taylor Farms sells most of its products to food distributors, who, in turn, sell them to restaurants and grocery stores.

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The CDC is advising consumers to not eat the lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. The agency has stated that iceberg lettuce at grocery stores or served in other restaurants is not impacted.

“Consumers rarely know where their fresh produce comes from, and cannot discern between romaine grown here or grown there,” said Joelle Mosso, associate vice president of science programs at the Western Growers Association, an industry group.

Sysco, the nation’s largest food distributor, said in an emailed statement Friday evening that it was withdrawing all iceberg lettuce products from Mexico in its supply chain at the request of Taylor Farms.

On Thursday night, Taco Bell said it was removing “potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states.” It did not name the supplier or the states.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.