FDA says it’s still investigating Taylor Farms in cyclosporiasis outbreak

Health newsFDA says it’s still investigating Taylor Farms in cyclosporiasis outbreakA false-positive test result doesn’t change the “overwhelming epidemiological data” linking Taylor Farms to the outbreak, the FDA said.Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00A Taylor Farms facility in Salinas, Calif., on Friday. Iceberg lettuce from the company's central Mexico facilities has been implicated in the ongoing outbreak.Benjamin Fanjoy / Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJuly 20, 2026, 1:55 PM EDTBy Berkeley Lovelace Jr.Taylor Farms continues to be the subject of a Food and Drug Administration investigation into the growing cyclosporiasis outbreak, despite a false-positive test result, the agency said Monday.Subscribe to read this story ad-freeGet unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Late Sunday, the FDA said that a lettuce sample from the company had falsely tested positive for cyclospora, the parasite that causes the illness. That sample, however, did not come from lettuce already implicated in the outbreak and recall. Instead, it came from a separate shipment the agency collected during routine import inspections. “To clarify, this false-positive lab sample DOES NOT change the basis for FDA’s ongoing outbreak investigation or the overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the current voluntary recall by Taylor Farms,” the FDA said Monday on X.The company’s voluntary recall of shredded iceberg lettuce to 27 states is still in effect. On Sunday, Taylor Farms said in a statement that the FDA had “apologized” about the false positive test results. On a call Monday, an FDA official disputed Taylor Farms’ claim that the agency had issued an official apology.Taylor Farms did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Determining the source of an outbreak goes beyond finding a positive sample.Public health officials don’t rely solely on laboratory tests to identify the source of a foodborne outbreak, said Donald Schaffner, a...