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Welcome to Food Safety in a Minute from Washington State University Extension.
Identifying the source of a Cyclospora outbreak is difficult. Symptoms begin a week after exposure and may take up to two weeks, so patients must remember specific foods eaten days earlier. Fresh produce is mixed, shredded, repackaged, and distributed widely making traceback complicated.
Additionally, the parasite is underdiagnosed as routine stool testing may miss it unless Cyclospora testing is specifically requested. Unlike many bacteria, molecular tools for this parasite are not fully developed. Product testing is challenging. Contaminated food may be gone before investigators collect samples. Currently, there may be several Cyclospora clusters in the U.S. Investigators initially linked this outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, but other reported illness may have different, still-unidentified sources.
I’m Susie Craig from Food Safety in Minute.
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References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026, July 17). Investigation update: Cyclospora outbreak, July 2026. Accessed online 7/26/26.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026, July 16). Domestically acquired cyclosporiasis cases in multiple U.S. states, 2026. Accessed online 7/26/26.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2026, July 19). Investigation of nine-state outbreak of Cyclospora illnesses: Iceberg lettuce. Accessed online 7/26/26.