Taylor Farms recall reaches 27 states, not five

Taylor Farms posted its own recall notice on its company website this week. The details paint a far bigger picture than health officials first described. Federal officials had told the public to avoid shredded iceberg lettuce at Taco Bell. That advisory named only five states, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. Taylor Farms says the actual recall covers 27 states, more than five times that original number.

Only two companies have publicly confirmed receiving the affected product. Taco Bell says it finished removing the Taylor Farms lettuce from its restaurants on July 17. The chain also pulled the ingredient from its supply chain nationwide. Sysco confirmed Friday that it was withdrawing all Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce. The distributor had already paused sales and distribution the day before.

Who else may have received the recalled lettuce

Food safety attorney Bill Marler examined Taylor Farms’ recall notice. He found 35 products listed under eight customer codes. He believes these codes correspond to major distributors and restaurant chains, based on buying patterns in the document itself.

Marler is confident that four codes represent broadline distributors. Each carries a nearly identical wide range of lettuce products. That kind of selection supplies thousands of downstream customers. He believes three other codes belong to individual restaurant chains, since each carries only one or two specific cuts.

Based on his analysis, one code likely represents Walmart’s Marketside brand. It matches that brand’s package sizes exactly. He also believes two codes align with private produce labels used by US Foods and Performance Food Group. Both companies rank among the country’s largest broadline distributors. A fourth code appears connected to Markon, a produce group serving many independent distributors.

Marler names Subway and Jack in the Box as likely buyers behind two additional codes. He based those identifications on the specific lettuce cuts each chain typically orders. However, he flags this identification as weaker than his other findings. He notes the Jack in the Box connection as his least certain read.

Beyond Sysco and Taco Bell’s parent company Yum Brands, none of these companies have publicly confirmed receiving the recalled product.

A conflicting message about grocery store lettuce

The CDC told reporters Friday that the outbreak has not affected shredded lettuce sold in grocery stores or served elsewhere. Yet Taylor Farms’ own recall notice lists consumer retail bags of shredded iceberg lettuce and salad among the recalled items.

Federal officials have also said that other brands, restaurants or distribution paths could still connect to the outbreak. Michigan’s chief medical officer Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian made a similar point. She noted that many people who got sick in her state say they never ate at Taco Bell. That detail suggests the source may extend well beyond one restaurant chain.

Timeline gaps in the recall

Taylor Farms distributed the recalled product between June 29 and July 16. Illnesses in this outbreak began May 13, well before that distribution window starts. That gap matters. The recall covers product currently sitting in kitchens and on shelves. However, it does not account for lettuce that people ate earlier in the outbreak.

A federal rule requires detailed, fast tracking records across the food supply chain. Regulators originally planned for that rule to take effect in January. Instead, they pushed the requirement back to 2028. Had the rule been active, federal officials would likely have received these distribution details within a day of the outbreak’s start. Instead, those details emerged from a company website months later.

This outbreak may have sickened nearly 7,000 Americans overall. Roughly 1,600 cases have a confirmed medical explanation so far. The rest are still waiting for answers. The current recall notice does not name which specific companies received the product in each state.

SOURCE: Marler Blog