There have been more than 500 cases of cyclosporiasis reported in North Carolina since the beginning of May. State health officials are continuing to investigate a common source for the outbreak.
Recently, national disease experts have linked cases to shredded lettuce served at Taco Bell in five states — but the state Department of Health and Human Services says North Carolina does not seem to be associated with that outbreak.
In a statement, Taco Bell says they’ve removed all potentially affected Taylor Farms products from their restaurants as of July 17.
Taylor Farms recently expanded a voluntary iceberg lettuce recall to include North Carolina. However, the company later posted in a release that the Food and Drug Administration said there was a mistake and the lettuce that was tested was a false positive.
According to the FDA, there are "no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for Cyclospora" as of July 19.
Health officials are recommending people remove or fully cook commonly reported sources – including lettuce, parsley and cilantro.