Cyclospora fears lead consumers to lose their appetite for salads

This summer many people in the United States stopped eating salads. The reason is a tiny parasite called cyclospora. It can make people sick with stomach pain, diarrhea, and feeling very tired.

Ready-made salads in stores sold 14% less than last year. Salad restaurants also lost many customers. One chain called Chopt saw 24% fewer visitors on one day after the news came out. Sweetgreen said the problem hurt their sales and they had to lower their money plans for the whole year. Another small salad company even closed all its restaurants and went bankrupt partly because of this fear.

Doctors found that the main problem came from iceberg lettuce. This lettuce was washed and packed in a big factory in central Mexico belonging to a company called Taylor Farms. The factory sent the lettuce to many places in America. More than 10,000 people got sick. The state of Michigan suffered the most — over 12,400 sick people and two deaths.

Only one big restaurant chain, Taco Bell, was clearly linked to the sick people because it uses a lot of iceberg lettuce in its food. Their sales dropped at first but later started to get better.

There are also a few smaller outbreaks happening at the same time, but doctors do not yet know exactly which food caused them. Cyclospora lives in water and dirt. It usually gets on lettuce, green onions, raspberries, and fresh herbs. It takes many days for a person to feel sick after eating the dirty food, so it is hard to find the exact source quickly.

To stay safe, health experts say: wash all vegetables and fruits carefully with clean water, throw away the outer leaves, and cook food when possible. Some salad restaurants told their customers that they never use iceberg lettuce, or that they wash their greens twice and only buy lettuce grown in the USA.

Good news came recently from Michigan. Health workers there said new cases are slowing down, so people can eat lettuce and salads again if they want. The big warning to avoid bagged salads is no longer needed in that state.