Purchases of mixed salads, salad kits, pretty much any type of leafy greens have hit the brakes in a big way. In just the month of July, some 6.5 million people in the US stopped buying salad, or leafy green produce because of the ongoing multistate cyclospora outbreak, according to a new report on Wednesday.
Cyclosporiasis is a gastrointestinal illness caused by the microscopic cyclospora parasite. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the total number of illnesses resulting from the multistate outbreak has reached nearly 16,000 cases reported across 17 states, including multiple hospitalizations and two deaths.
Federal officials linked the outbreak to processed shredded iceberg lettuce traced to producer and supplier Taylor Farms de Mexico, which was also served at Taco Bell locations in several states.
Market research firm Numerator said in a report that 87% of produce shoppers are aware of the outbreak, and more than a quarter of households indicated that they have stopped buying salads and fresh greens entirely.
The most immediate pullback is purchases of fresh salad. Over 6.5 million households in the US stopped buying salad mixes and kits in the latest month ending July 26, 2026, compared with the prior month, according to Numerator, which tracks purchase behavior from 200,000 households across more than 44,000 retailers. The firm separately also logged responses from a survey of more than 3,000 fresh produce buyers on July 31, 2026.
Numerator said its research also showed that consumers aren’t quickly, or fully, replacing the fresh produce they’re avoiding with alternatives such as canned or frozen vegetables.
The drop is salad buying is hurting fast-food chains, too, with big declines in trips for salad purchases at quick-service restaurants in July, the report said. Sweetgreen’s SG 0.00%↑ CEO recently told CNBC that although the salad chain isn’t linked to cyclospora, the outbreak is still hurting business, and that he didn’t expect it to last this long.
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Numerator estimates that the prolonged outbreak is putting an estimated $280 million in consumer produce spending at risk every month that it continues.
Still, consumers haven’t completely written off salads forever. Among those who said they stopped buying leafy greens for now, 82% said they do plan to buy them again once the outbreak is contained, the report said.
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