California farmers destroy perfect lettuce crops amid outbreak of explosive diarrhea parasite

New York Post ^ | August 1, 2026 | By Titus Wu

[artichokegrower]

A nationwide explosive diarrhea crisis that has left thousands clinging to their toilets and hospitalized others also seems to have another victim: lettuce growers in California.

Some like Larry Cox, who runs Coastline Family Farms in Salinas Valley, are trashing their lettuce crop and throwing the vegetables back into the soil, the Wall Street Journal reported. This week, Cox dumped 300,000 pounds of his romaine hearts.

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TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS:

[artichokegrower]

As of July 27, 2026, over 18,000 total suspected and confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis have been reported across 45 states by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This includes 6,707 laboratory-confirmed domestic cases and more than 11,500 additional probable or under-investigation cases.

O deaths related to cyclosporasis

18,000 divided by USA population of 350,000,000 gives a 0.0000514% chance of catching cyclospora. I think I’ll take my chances and have a salad

[Skybird]

Someone’s dropping a deuce on the produce…

[chopperk]

The illegals who work the lettuce harvest maybe have a native immunity to the illness. When the product hits the market the buyers have no immunity, ergo, they are hit hard.
Thanks dems..........................................

[Mariner]

Shifty Mexican lettuce destroys. CA CROP

[adorno]

Is it diarrhea that explodes, or parasites that explode? ;-)

Either way, eeewwww!

[Sir_Humphrey]

I always thought “Explosive Diarrhea” would make a great name for a heavy metal band.

[GenXPolymath]

The reason it’s in 44 states is mega food processors like Sysco wash and blend the produce with the same water and machines for entire day before dumping and cleaning them. One batch of parasite contamination will get in the water and be spread to the entire production run that day mixed into 5#, 10# bags of shreaded lettuce going to every where Sysco sends bulk products to a lot of those bulk bags are going to secondary processing to be mixed into salad kits and other independently branded items. Plus bulk bags go to Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, Wendys, even fine dining.

This is exactly the reason it’s so wide spread and not just in iceberg lettuce from Mexico the machines get used for other types of lettuce and produce spreading the parasite until they are striped down and analytically steam cleaned the only way to kill this specific bug is with heat, it is impervious to chemicals , no chlorine,no acid, no NaOH ,none of that works its coated in armor that resists every chemical the food industry uses or could us to try to kill it. Even very toxic quats in the 1000+ ppm range that you must be in full chem suits and full face breathers to even be near struggled to kill it and are not even at this level GDA approved to be effective.

Steam and heat above 15
4F for 5 min or more or a second at 200+F is the ONLY way to render it safe. You could use 10000+ REM gamma rays but well then everyone is dead in the plant so nah.

[Col Frank Slade]

Don’t get a big salad at Taco Bell…..

[lightman]

Irrespective, if you think you have it: DON’T F@RT!

[Sirius Lee]

[jdege]

Contamination in the processing machines wouldn’t infect the fields...

[ryderann]

“Contamination in the processing machines wouldn’t infect the fields...”

But a nearby secret Chinese lab would.

[GenXPolymath]

No human has immunity to this bug. If repeatedly exposed you will get diarrhea it just doesn’t last week’s and weeks like unexposed people. It’s a few days to 2 weeks vs 4-6

So field workers would go to work with the runs and well you see how this bug has perfectly evolved to spread itself. Oh it gets in water supply too and can survive chlorine like it’s nothing.

I quote

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) explicitly notes that because chlorine fails against Cyclospora, centralized utilities must turn upstream to advanced barriers like ozone, microfiltration, or UV radiation to reduce environmental transmission.”

Once it gets into warm water and soil it completes its life cycle and looks for a human host, watering crops with that contaminated water if its not UV or ozone blasted will spread it to the next human host cycle.

Here is some actual sci not hearsay

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7699734/

[Reily]

I thought that was a song by the Venture Brothers band “Shallow Gravy”?

[GenXPolymath]

“Don’t get a big salad at Taco Bell…..”

Sysco distributes to 700,000+ including fine dining, and secondary processors who label the processed foods as their own. This is why it’s in 45 states and the machines are only cleaned by law once per day so a single incoming contamination speeds its way through the wash water and machines that touched it to EVERY bit of material that passed though that machine line that day these were 10# bulk sacks that went to at least 27 states and not just Taco Bell , if a restaurant uses shredded lettuce there is a good chance it’s Sysco sourced they are one of only 3 main suppliers to 70% of all on premise food service.

[kawhill]

“A nationwide explosive diarrhea crisis that has left thousands clinging to their toilets and hospitalized others”. I bet a person could lose some weight.

[Pocketdoor]

all that horded toilet paper from COVID era is finally coming in handy.

[ApplegateRanch]

Story is a bit misleading.

One: Central CA isn’t central Mexico.

Two: Romain isn’t iceberg.

Three: Every year, a percentage of most crops is left unharvested for economic reasons...Cyclospora is an excuse, not a reason

Four: The farmer doesn’t own the crop; it is already pre-sold before planting, in the case of large operations; the corporate owner of the crop dictates what the famer must or must not do with it.

In some years, in the Imperial Valley, farmers were only harvesting every third head of iceberg; the rest being subsequently plowed under. If the farmer or a field worker took any of those remaindered heads for personal use, let alone to sell, it was legally theft.

Same goes for corn, soybeans, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, wheat, and all other commercial crops.

[thescourged1]

Is Mexico back to fertilizing fields with untreated sewage again?

[GenXPolymath]

“Contamination in the processing machines wouldn’t infect the fields...”

No but.it didn’t take a huge field size contamination event a single batch incoming can contaminate a entire production line for a full run until it’s cleaned and if they didn’t know it was this bug they would clean with FDA approved chemicals which are not going to kill this bug at all so when the next run starts it keep spreading until they do steam clean it at a shut down the line for a few days level.

Do you work in food industry?

I spent a few years as an ME while finding my line (surfers get it)

Taylor farms didn’t know they had an issue till weeks later by that point they had sent 100,00+ bulk batches every one contaminated off their Mexico line into Sysco massive distribution network THIS IS HOW IT GOT TO 45 STAT
ES don’t be dense we all know its a fecal oral parasite , there is only one source a human rectum period full stop.

Now was it irrigation water that had sewage that even with standard chlorine treatment before outfall in the river system would spread it to everything that water was used on it was it a human actually in the field. That’s basically the only two sources the first contaminated water is how you make a HUGE outbreak as its applied to whole acres and acres of field every bit of it now contaminated.

I would bet good money it was fecal matter in the irrigation water in Mexico they don’t ozone or UV treat sewage when its even treated at all so raw sewage from a upstream point and then intakes to irrigation boom there is your source.