Federal health officials are warning Boone County diners: do not eat shredded iceberg lettuce at Taco Bell.

The FDA and CDC announced Thursday, July 16, that shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia has been linked to 1,644 confirmed Cyclospora infections and 94 hospitalizations across the five states. No deaths have been reported.

Florence alone has at least three Taco Bell locations, at 410 Mt. Zion Road, 6724 Dixie Highway, and 8526 U.S. Highway 42. The FDA noted that not every Taco Bell in the affected states received the contaminated lettuce, and no public list of specific locations has been released.

The FDA's investigation page identifies the supplier as Taylor Farms de Mexico, a company previously linked to a 2024 E. coli outbreak tied to slivered onions at McDonald's and a 2013 Cyclospora outbreak connected to salad mix.

Taco Bell said in a statement Friday, July 17, that it completed removal of all affected Taylor Farms lettuce from its restaurants nationwide. The chain said it acted "out of an abundance of caution" after conversations with public health officials and that the supplier has been removed from its supply chain, according to the company's statement.

Michigan health officials analyzed food exposure details from 190 cases where the sick person reported eating at Taco Bell. Ninety percent of those interviewed said they ate iceberg lettuce, according to the CDC.

Illness onset dates in the five-state cluster range from May 13, 2026, through July 13, 2026, the CDC reported. The outbreak is part of a larger national Cyclospora surge: more than 6,700 confirmed or probable cases have been reported across at least 34 states since May 1, compared with roughly 2,700 cases in all of 2025.

"We anticipate continuing to see cases increase, possibly through the end of August," said Dr. Gwen Biggerstaff, deputy director of the CDC's Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases.

Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that causes watery diarrhea, fatigue, and loss of appetite. Symptoms typically appear about a week after infection but can take two days to two weeks. The illness is treatable with antibiotics and does not spread person to person.

The CDC advises anyone with symptoms to stay hydrated and contact a health care provider. Routine stool tests often do not include a Cyclospora screen, so patients should ask specifically for the test.

The FDA said its investigation remains active and that additional restaurants, retailers, or products could be linked as the probe continues. The agency has increased screening at the U.S.-Mexico border for implicated products and is collecting samples for lab analysis.