Mexican Government Rules Out Cyclospora Contamination in Taylor Farms Lettuce in Mexico

ByÁngeles Cruz Martínez

This article by Ángeles Cruz Martínez originally appeared in the July 23, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City.

The lettuce and water at the Taylor Farms de México, S. de R.L. de C.V. plant are free of the parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis, which causes explosive diarrhea. Nor is there any presence of fecal coliforms, the Mexican government reported. The analysis was carried out by the National Reference Laboratory of the Commission for Analytical Control and Coverage Expansion (CCAyAC) and the State Public Health Laboratory of Guanajuato (LESP), and it determined that the company operates within the physicochemical parameters established in national standards.

It stated that from July 18 to 20, the Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) carried out an inspection and sanitary verification visit to the plant, in coordination with epidemiologists and food safety experts from the General Directorate of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health and from the National Service for Agri-Food Health, Safety, and Quality (SENASICA) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

There, ten samples of iceberg lettuce were taken: 5 whole heads present at the establishment and five samples of finished product: chopped, washed, and disinfected lettuce; as well as four water samples for basic microbiological and physicochemical determination. The company presented evidence of process controls throughout the chain and of the application of food safety management systems based on international recommendations. With respect to the irrigation system, it was confirmed to be drip irrigation and that the plant’s water comes from its own certified wells.

The inspection also observed that Taylor Farms has a traceability system for products and raw materials that allowed United States authorities to identify the origin of the product and trace a batch held at the customs office in Laredo, Texas, which never entered U.S. territory. From that batch the sample was obtained that subsequently yielded a false positive result, according to what the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported last Saturday.

For its part, Senasica made contact with lettuce producers that supply product to the company and, although they hold a couple of certificates, they were invited to obtain the Contamination Risk Reduction Systems (SRRC) certificate. During the visit, personnel from the General Directorate of Epidemiology found no health problems among the workers, nor outbreaks of diarrheal illness requiring medical attention.