Caribbean Produce Exchange, a Puerto Rican company that leads the distribution of vegetables and fruits, stated that the Taylor Farms lettuce linked to a parasitic disease causing intestinal infection and detected in the US is not sold in Puerto Rico. The company clarified that it does not import or distribute the contaminated lettuce, produced in Mexico for Taylor Farms, on the island. Ángel R.
Santiago, the company's CEO, assured that locally grown and harvested lettuce, as well as Dole lettuce, are safe for consumption. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that the outbreak is focused on shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell establishments in five states: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. Puerto Rico is not among the affected states.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) linked the disease to the Taylor Farms lettuce supplied to certain Taco Bell restaurants, which have been identified as the source of the disease in dozens of cases. Puerto Rico reported its first case two weeks ago, but it was a traveler who arrived on the island already infected. The disease, known as cyclosporiasis, can last for days or weeks and causes symptoms such as 'explosive diarrhea', anorexia, weight loss, and fever.