Editorial: A no good, very bad summer for salad

The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune on Aug 15, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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Parents are all too familiar with the ongoing battle to get their kids to eat a vegetable or two.

This summer, they’ve been fighting it themselves.

Just weeks ago, every bite of greens came with the fear of exposure to cyclosporiasis, a parasite many of us were blissfully unaware of until it began triggering stomach problems that leave no dignity for the sufferer.

As of Aug. 5, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 6,358 cases, 278 hospitalizations and two deaths in the multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico. The company recalled all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico in mid-July. The recalled lettuce was distributed and sold in at least 27 states to consumers, restaurants and retailers, including Taco Bell locations and Marketside-brand products at select Walmart stores.

If you found yourself on the wrong side of that recall, we pity you and hope you are well again. For now, it seems that we can go back to enjoying our chopped, wedge and Caesar salads in peace.

Now, in August, the Food and Drug Administration is warning Americans not to “eat, serve or sell recalled fresh jalapeños from Sinaloa, Mexico, distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors,” as products made with these peppers may be contaminated with salmonella. Folks who bought recalled Salsa Fresca or Salsa Roja from Whole Foods, pico de gallo from Walmart or Taylor Farms guacamole from Target should toss those items in the garbage, if they haven’t already.

Can we get to September already?

How odd to find yourself afraid of your salad; frightened of guacamole; nervous around salsa.

Especially at a time of year when so much of our most delicious produce is in season.

Something extraordinary these episodes illustrate, in our view, is the vulnerability of America’s highly interconnected fresh-food supply chain, in which one grower or supplier problem can ripple astonishingly far.

Surely these stories caused anxiety in far more people than actual illness. We know plenty of folks who couldn’t bring themselves to raise a salad fork for some time after learning of the dreaded cyclospora.

Perhaps a more cheerful outlet for such fears is to become more frequent farmers market shoppers before the season ends. With a wide range of options spanning weekdays and weekends, from 95th Street to Andersonville to Daley Plaza to the ’burbs, there’s still plenty of time to enjoy locally grown produce before another Chicago season disappears.

And for those feeling particularly ambitious, there’s always urban gardening.

So here’s hoping September brings nothing more alarming from the produce aisle than the annual realization that you bought (or grew) far too much zucchini. Until then, wash your vegetables, and maybe don’t read the FDA recall page immediately before lunch.

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