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What to know about Taylor Farms, the Taco Bell lettuce supplier linked to cyclosporiasis outbreak

What to know about Taylor Farms, the Taco Bell lettuce supplier linked to cyclosporiasis outbreak

Taylor Farms, a lettuce supplier to Taco Bell, has been linked to a cyclosporiasis outbreak in five states. Taylor Farms, founded by Bruce Taylor and several partners in 1995, is a California-based fresh produce company that has grown into a multimillion-dollar company with more than 24,000 employees and 22 production facilities throughout North America. The

Taylor Farms, a lettuce supplier to Taco Bell, has been linked to a cyclosporiasis outbreak in five states.

Taylor Farms, founded by Bruce Taylor and several partners in 1995, is a California-based fresh produce company that has grown into a multimillion-dollar company with more than 24,000 employees and 22 production facilities throughout North America.

The privately held company supplies packaged salads, fresh-cut vegetables, meal kits and other prepared foods to grocery stores, restaurants and food service customers. Its products have also been linked to previous investigations into foodborne illnesses, including outbreaks linked to salad mixes and onions served on McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers.

Federal officials have linked shredded iceberg lettuce served at some Taco Bell restaurants to an outbreak of cyclosporiasis that has sickened more than 1,600 people in five states.

Taylor Farms did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The company issued a public statement Friday saying it was “deeply concerned” about those who fell ill and that Taylor Farms de Mexico was voluntarily recalling all iceberg lettuce from central Mexico from the U.S. market.

The company added that there were no Taylor Farms brand salads or salad kits associated with the outbreak and that its brand salad kits do not contain iceberg lettuce.

Here’s what you should know about Taylor Farms, its founder, its rise in the agricultural industry and other important moments in its history.

Taylor Farms traces its origins to Salinas, California in 1995.


During a break in the fog, afternoon sunlight shines on the historic city center of Salinas, California, United States.

The company was founded in Salinas, California, where it is headquartered.

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The company was founded in 1995 in California’s Salinas Valley, often nicknamed America’s Salad Bowl for its fertile farmland, by Bruce Taylor, whose father and grandfather had also worked in the produce industry.

More than 30 years later, Taylor remains the company’s president and CEO.


Farmland in Northern California stock photo

Taylor Farms’ growing operations are concentrated in the Salinas Valley and Yuma region.

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Prior to founding Taylor Farms with a group of partners, Taylor also served as CEO of Fresh Express, a fresh produce brand later acquired by Chiquita Brands International.

Taylor still serves as president and CEO of Taylor Farms.

Taylor Farms is a multi-million dollar company with more than 24,000 employees.


Packages of Taylor Farms salad greens are displayed at a Safeway store on July 16, 2026 in Kings Beach, California. Federal health officials are investigating whether shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by California-based Taylor Farms was the source of a nationwide Cyclospora outbreak that has sickened more than 1,600 people in 34 states, although no definitive link has been confirmed.

Taylor Farms supplies 265 million servings of fresh produce across North America each week.

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Taylor Farms is a $7 billion company, according to UC Berkeley, that employs more than 24,000 people and operates 22 production facilities across North America.

Its retail, prepared foods and foodservice divisions produce bagged salads, meal kits, fresh-cut vegetables and other ready-to-eat foods.

The company and its network of producers provide approximately 265 million servings of fresh produce across North America each week, the company said.

The company helped popularize chopped salad kits and expanded by purchasing other major produce brands.


Packages of Taylor Farms salad greens are displayed at a Safeway store on July 16, 2026 in Kings Beach, California. Federal health officials are investigating whether shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by California-based Taylor Farms was the source of a nationwide Cyclospora outbreak that has sickened more than 1,600 people in 34 states, although no definitive link has been confirmed.

The company helped pioneer branded prepackaged chopped salads.

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Taylor Farms introduced the first branded prepackaged chopped salads in 2012, according to UC Berkeley.

The company subsequently continued to expand through acquisitions, including organic produce brand Earthbound Farm in 2019 and packaged salad brand Eat Smart in 2021.

A massive fire damaged Taylor Farms’ flagship facility in Salinas in 2022.


Taylor Farms is completing the installation of 2 MW of solar at its San Juan Bautista, California facility, which will be combined with 6 MW of Bloom Energy fuel cells and a 2 MW/4 MWh battery in a microgrid designed to power the entire 450,000 square foot facility.

The company’s other facility in San Juan Bautista, California, was retrofitted with solar energy panels in 2022.

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In April 2022, a fire broke out at Taylor Farms’ flagship facility in Salinas, California, destroying its 60,000-square-foot leafy greens processing area.

The facility was rebuilt shortly after the fire and reopened a year later, with a new layout designed to process more than 15 million pounds of produce per week.

Taylor Farms has previously been linked to major investigations into foodborne illnesses.


Packages of Taylor Farms salad greens are displayed at a Safeway store on July 16, 2026 in Kings Beach, California.

Taylor Farms products were the likely source of the 2024 E. coli outbreak involving onions used in McDonald’s Quarter Pounders.

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In 2013, restaurant-associated Cyclospora illnesses in Iowa and Nebraska were linked to salad mix produced by Taylor Farms’ Mexico division. During the multistate outbreak, 631 illnesses were reported in 25 states, although the CDC determined that the number of cases likely represented multiple outbreaks linked to different food sources.

Taylor Farms was also linked to an E. coli outbreak in 2024 involving chopped onions served in McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. The company voluntarily recalled yellow onions supplied to McDonald’s and other food service customers after 104 people became ill in 14 states, 34 were hospitalized and one died.

The FDA identified the recalled onions as the likely source of the illnesses.

Federal officials have linked lettuce served at Taco Bell to an outbreak that has sickened more than 1,600 people.


A customer walks into a Taco Bell restaurant on July 14, 2026 in La Cañada Flintridge, California.

Federal health officials linked shredded iceberg lettuce served at some of the chain’s locations in five states to more than 1,600 cases of cyclosporiasis.

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The CDC and FDA said shredded iceberg lettuce served at some Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia was contaminated with Cyclospora.

As of July 16, the five-state outbreak included at least 1,644 confirmed illnesses, 94 hospitalizations and no deaths. Not all Taco Bell restaurants in the affected states received the implicated lettuce.

The FDA’s traceback investigation identified a single supplier that provided restaurants with iceberg lettuce grown in Mexico. Federal officials did not publicly name the supplier, but Taylor Farms said FDA tracing pointed to a specific independent farm affiliated with the company.

Taco Bell said it removed potentially affected lettuce from restaurants in select states and was indefinitely removing supplier lettuce from its supply chain nationwide.

On Friday, Taco Bell said in a public statement that it had completed the recall of all affected Taylor Farms lettuce from its restaurants.

Federal investigations into the cyclosporiasis outbreak continue.


Fresh lettuces are ready to be harvested in the Salinas Valley of central California.

Investigators are working to determine if potentially contaminated lettuce made its way to businesses beyond the already identified Taco Bell locations.

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The FDA is investigating whether the supplier’s potentially contaminated lettuce is still on the market and whether it was distributed to other restaurants, retailers, brands or companies. Additional states could be added to the federal advisory as researchers learn more information.

Taylor Farms of Mexico said it would voluntarily remove all iceberg lettuce from central Mexico from the U.S. market. The company said its Taylor Farms brand salad kits do not contain iceberg lettuce.

The CDC is also investigating other clusters and thousands of additional reported Cyclospora illnesses that may not be related to the lettuce served at Taco Bell. Health officials have warned that the nationwide increase in cases likely involves more than one source.