Taylor Farms Of Mexico Named In Stomach Bug Outbreak

The final mystery in the cyclospora outbreak has been solved. A farm in Mexico belonging to the company Taylor Farms has been named by the Food and Drug Administration as responsible for causing the stomach bug in residents of at least two of the 16 affected states. There have been 400 total cases of the illness and 22 hospitalizations. The states affected by the salad produced are Nebraska and Iowa. It is unclear if the farm is linked to any other cases, ABC News reported.

"It is not yet clear whether the cases reported from other states are all part of the same outbreak," the FDA said in a statement. "The investigation of increased cases of cyclosporiasis in other states continues."

Grocery stores and brands have yet to be named. The distributor is a supplier for Darden restaurants, including Olive Garden and Red Lobster, where contaminated salad was found in some states, Inquisitr reported. Darden said it was not aware that the salad mixture had contained the cyclospora-causing parasite before it was served.

"Nothing we have seen prior to this announcement gave us any reason to be concerned about the products we've received from this supplier," Rich Jeffers, Darden spokesman, said.

Prepackaged salad mixes have also been the source of the bug. Health officials in Nebraska and Iowa have said that it is safe to continue eating packaged salads as the infected brands have been removed from the shelves. The salad mix is believed to be the cause of 80 percent of Iowa's cases. Taylor Farms has issued at least three recalls over the years because of its products, with the most recent being in February when its packaged spinach was removed from shelves due to concerns of Enterohemorrhagic E. coli contamination. In 2012, it recalled romaine lettuce hearts due to listeria concerns and bagged salad in 2011 for possible salmonella contamination.