Federal regulators and the parent company of global salad producer Taylor Farms made headlines — and sowed confusion — this week after announcing that a mistake was made and that a lettuce sample from the supplier had not actually tested positive for the parasite that’s sending thousands of people to the bathroom with explosive diarrhea.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has since clarified the news and said that, while there was a “false positive” involving a sample of Taylor Farms’ lettuce that was tested Saturday, Taylor Farms lettuce from central Mexico is still a prime suspect for at least some of the U.S.’s ongoing outbreaks. Taylor Farms on Friday had issued a voluntary recall for some of its products.

“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 announced Monday morning on X.

“FDA’s traceback investigation and outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico,” the federal health agency wrote. “FDA will continue to work with federal and state partners to investigate this multistate outbreak and ensure products implicated in this outbreak have been removed from the market.”

The FDA’s clarification came hours after both it and Taylor Fresh Foods, the parent company of Taylor Farms, released vague statements late Sunday announcing the false positive test result. The update, naturally, caused confusion and raised questions about whether that meant that Taylor Farms’ produce was not actually linked to any of the ongoing outbreaks.

But, as far as the FDA is concerned, Taylor Farms is still suspected of being responsible for at least some of the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreaks in the country. The agency clarified Monday that the lettuce supplier’s nationwide voluntary recall of lettuce sourced and grown in central Mexico remains active, including for the Marketside brands sold at Walmart in Florida and other states.

The FDA is also still urging people to avoid eating iceberg lettuce that comes from Taylor Farms de Mexico. The recall does not affect other Taylor Farms products.

The Saturday lab testing mixup comes as federal and state health officials are rushing to pinpoint the source or sources of food that have caused nearly 7,000 people across the country to fall ill with symptoms similar to those of cyclosporiasis, a stomach bug that leads people to experience watery and explosive diarrhea.

Here’s a timeline to help you make sense of the lettuce drama:

—Thursday, July 16: The FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that their investigation had linked Taylor Farms’ iceberg lettuce sent to Taco Bell as the source of the ongoing cyclospora outbreaks across Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. The federal agencies said the contaminated lettuce came from central Mexico. The announcement came shortly after Taco Bell announced its decision to stop serving lettuce and other ingredients at its stores in the affected states as a precautionary measure. The CDC said the outbreaks in other states, such as Florida, are still under investigation.

—Friday, July 17: Late in the afternoon, Taylor Farms announced a voluntary nationwide recall for iceberg lettuce products grown and processed in Central Mexico. The supplier described the recall as a precautionary measure that was done due to information it received from federal officials. Taco Bell also announced that it had removed all “affected Taylor Farms lettuce” from its restaurants nationwide.

—Saturday, July 18: Both the FDA and Taylor Farms announced a list of which lettuce products had been recalled, including lot codes, use-by dates, and instructions to return or dispose of the affected products, which were shipped to Florida and other states. The list included some Marketside-brand products available at Walmart. The rest of the products were sent to “food service customers” such as Sysco, a food distribution giant that caters to restaurants, schools, health facilities and other customers around the world.

—Sunday, July 19: The FDA announced that a lettuce sample from Taylor Fresh Foods that it had reported as positive for cyclospora on Saturday was actually a “false positive” and that as of Sunday, “there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for Cyclospora.” Taylor Fresh Foods released its own statement, saying that its products had not tested positive for the parasite and that the federal agency had apologized.

—Monday, July 20: The FDA clarified that just because a sample of lettuce produced a false positive on Saturday, that does not mean that Taylor Farms was given the all-clear. The recall on some of its products remains active.

How many cyclosporiasis cases are there?

So far, the CDC has received reports of 1,645 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis, an illness caused by the tiny parasite cyclospora that is found in contaminated food and water. It’s investigating more than 5,100 other potential cases of the stomach bug.

Florida has reported over 100 confirmed cases of the stomach bug so far, most of which have occurred within the past two months.

For now, while we wait and see what comes next, experts are urging people to give their fruits and veggies a good wash, or better yet, cook them properly to kill the parasite.

_____

©2026 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.