The cyclospora outbreak has consumers across the country holding the lettuce.
And the U.S. lettuce industry fears it will be left holding the bag -- whether or not their leafy greens are truly to blame.
"Being prosecuted in the court of Reddit and social media is just devastating to the industry without any evidence," said Max Teplitski, chief science officer at the International Fresh Produce Association.
The Food and Drug Administration has said that a range of produce items are being investigated to trace the origins of the current outbreak, which can cause explosive diarrhea and vomiting. In Michigan, the hardest-hit state in terms of number of cases, state health officials this week pointed to lettuce and salad greens as a possible culprit.
That lead comes out of interviews with more than 1,700 infected people, around half of whom reported eating lettuce and salad greens in the weeks before becoming ill, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
State officials didn't recommend avoiding the leafy greens altogether. But that hasn't prevented people from warning each other online to abstain.
In Benton Harbor, Mich., CK Catering is bracing for a wave of cyclospora-inspired menu changes. For a wedding this coming weekend, said managing member Bob Hollerbach, a frantic bride asked to change her salad to a cooked vegetable side dish.
"They know their guests are going to avoid it, like the rest of us," Hollerbach said of the salad. He has been preparing a list of nonlettuce alternatives to offer skittish customers.
More than 30 states have so far reported cases of the foodborne illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with more than 140 people hospitalized.
Steering clear
In Michigan, state health leaders have said their review of cases suggested that bagged, prewashed salad kits could be a particular risk. The state advised consumers to take precautions such as buying heads of lettuce rather than bagged, removing outer leaves and washing the inner ones.
Health officials have said that early findings weren't conclusive and that the investigation is ongoing. The CDC and other food-safety experts have warned that the widespread illnesses likely reflect several cyclospora outbreaks.
Some consumers aren't waiting to take precautions.
Katie Hansen, a 42-year-old worker at a Missouri steel company, said she ate a chicken bowl last week, with lettuce and guacamole. On Saturday she started having lower back pain and feeling sluggish, with diarrhea, chills, cramping and sweats starting Sunday.
Hansen said she has started feeling better with antibiotics, and is slowly introducing foods like toast. "I'm definitely skipping bagged salad kits," said Hansen, who added that she'll be more selective with greens she prepares at home.
Lettuce producers said their industry could bear a heavy cost. "People are calling in and reducing orders across the board because they think consumers won't buy fresh produce," said Joelle Mosso. She leads science programs for Western Growers, which represents produce growers in California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
The American leafy-greens industry moved around 1.36 billion pounds of fresh lettuce last year, which generated about $3.79 billion in U.S. retail sales, according to data from the International Fresh Produce Association. Fresh spinach represented about $1.26 billion in retail sales.
Mosso said that some companies' recent rush to remove fresh produce from menus or buying lists looked like an overcorrection.
"It may not be products that are even associated, potentially, with this issue," she said of the canceled orders. "From the perspective of the growers, that's pretty challenging to deal with."
Farm pain
Leafy greens have a short shelf life, meaning the impact of lost orders is immediate. To avoid wasting money and labor harvesting fields of unwanted crops, growers often till the plants back into the soil, Mosso said.
The IFPA's Teplitski said outbreaks eventually traced back to one grower can drag down demand across the industry for months afterward.
In a particularly damaging case, a 2006 outbreak of E. coli associated with spinach was eventually traced back to a single farm in California. Spinach sales never fully recovered, according to Teplitski.
Consumers don't tend to differentiate between various kinds and suppliers of leafy greens, so any reputational harm is likely to affect the whole industry even after a source is identified, said David Magaña, a senior analyst covering fresh produce at Rabobank. That is especially problematic for growers, he said, because sliding demand could coincide with a summer boost in supply.
"When lettuce enters the headlines, the entire leafy green category can experience reputational pressure," Magaña said.
Write to Amira McKee at amira.mckee@wsj.com and Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 16, 2026 10:56 ET (14:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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