California Lettuce Growers Feel Fallout From Cyclospora Outbreak
California lettuce wasn’t implicated in this summer’s sprawling cyclospora outbreak, but California growers are still feeling the economic fallout.
That’s according to reporting from Caleb Hampton with the California Farm Bureau’s Ag Alert. On July 17, the FDA identified shredded iceberg lettuce from a Taylor Farms facility in Mexico as a possible source of the outbreak.
But consumer concern spread well beyond that product. NielsenIQ reported iceberg lettuce sales fell more than 25 percent from July 18 through August 8, while prepacked salad sales dropped more than 34 percent.
During summer, Mexico typically supplies only a small amount of lettuce to the U.S. market. The vast majority comes from growers on California’s Central Coast.
Ag Alert reports growers in the Salinas Valley and beyond say they’ve had little choice but to destroy about a third of lettuce crops that were ready for harvest as demand dropped.
And the impact isn’t limited to lettuce. Sales declines have also hit berries and fresh produce more broadly.
California lettuce sales totaled about $3.7 billion in 2024.
For more, visit cfbf.com.
