Taco Bell Removes Items Amid Parasite Outbreak

Taco Bell announced this week that it has voluntarily and temporarily removed certain ingredients from select restaurants as a precautionary measure amid an ongoing outbreak of a parasite that causes severe diarrhea. The company stated that public health officials have not yet confirmed a link between the outbreak, Taco Bell, any specific ingredient, or any particular supplier. The chain is taking this action while authorities investigate the causes of the cyclospora outbreak, and Taco Bell has not specified which ingredients were affected.

Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands Inc., operates both company-owned and franchised restaurants. In some Michigan stores, franchisees have reportedly stopped serving lettuce as a precaution. Michigan is considered the epicenter of the outbreak, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported infections in over 30 states in the past two weeks. Public health officials in Michigan suggest the outbreak may be linked to contaminated lettuce or salad greens.

The news of the outbreak and precautionary measures has had an impact on the stock market. Yum! Brands Inc. shares fell 2.7% in New York trading on Tuesday, though the stock has advanced approximately 4% year-to-date. Sweetgreen Inc., a salad-focused restaurant chain, saw its shares drop as much as 13% on Tuesday, marking its largest intraday decline since February. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Michael Halen noted that a shortage or price increase of lettuce could significantly impact Sweetgreen, given that salads constitute a large portion of their sales.

Other smaller restaurants in different states have also begun implementing precautionary measures. For instance, The Buzz cafe in Monrovia, Maryland, has stated it is removing some menu items due to the cyclospora outbreak. The CDC has indicated that parasite cases have been rising throughout the summer as they continue to search for the source of the infections.