Tag: lettuce

OM in the News: A False Positive on Taylor Farms Lettuce

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration just announced that lettuce from a key supplier linked to the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak has not tested positive for the parasite, reversing an earlier finding by the agency.  The FDA previously identified contamination in a sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico, but after retesting, said the finding was inaccurate.

“Due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive,” the agency said.

Despite the update, Taylor Farms de Mexico, part of the larger Taylor Farms brand, continues to be at the center of the FDA’s investigation into the outbreak after the agency last week linked iceberg lettuce from a single supplier in Mexico to more than 1,600 cases of cyclosporiasis across Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. That subset of cases in the larger outbreak occurred among people who reported eating at Taco Bell before becoming ill. Taco Bell said it had removed all Taylor Farms lettuce from its U.S. restaurants and supply chain, reports Supply Chain Dive (July 21, 2026). 

Taylor Farms, meanwhile, has voluntarily recalled all iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico and will no longer source from the region for the remainder of the growing season. The recalled items included private-label shredded lettuce and iceberg salad packs sold at Walmart, but no Taylor Farms-branded products were involved, according to the company.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Supplement 6 in your Heizer/Render/Munson text is on the topic of Statistical Process Control. What tools could be used to manage this issue?
  2. What other famous outbreaks have been caused by lettuce?

OM in the News: E.Coli and the Lettuce Supply Chain

Romaine lettuce is the source of a growing E.coli outbreak.

A growing nationwide E.coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce has revived concerns over a leafy green industry that has long grappled with how to produce safe food. And questions remain over the origins of the more than 98 illnesses across 22 states. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that it is still looking for the lettuce source.

The outbreak from romaine lettuce grows to the largest multistate E. coli outbreak since one in 2006 tied to spinach that killed 3 people and sickened more than 200. The strain of E. coli making people sick is particularly virulent, leading to a high hospitalization rate. The FDA said it isn’t clear at what point in the supply chain the whole-head lettuce was contaminated. “In this case you’re looking at a more of a web trying to figure out where it came from,” said one exec.

Much of the difficulty in pinpointing an outbreak’s origin, writes The Wall Street Journal (April 28-29, 2018), stems from the complexity of the U.S. supply chain, in which food is grown, packed, processed and shipped by multiple companies before it reaches grocery store shelves. Produce from different farms can be combined into a single shipment to buyers. Product labels often don’t indicate where lettuce was grown. “Tracking a product from the farm through to the point of sale isn’t easy,” said a food-safety expert. “It’s not a new problem and it’s obviously not fixed.”

Blockchain, which we have discussed in several recent posts, may be one answer.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. Why is this supply chain so complex?
  2. Why is lettuce a particular health risk?