By
Emma Wartzman,
a senior kitchen and dining writer at the Strategist.
Previously, she was an editor at Bon Appétit and has worked in food media for nine years.
By now you’ve heard (or maybe you’ve experienced firsthand) that cyclosporiasis — an illness caused by consuming food or water that has been contaminated with feces— is making its way around the country. Basically, the cyclospora parasite gets onto fresh produce via contaminated soil in the ground or via contaminated water that has been used for washing, and people who eat this produce can end up with explosive diarrhea that lasts for weeks. While most cases so far have been concentrated in Michigan, there have been thousands overall across the country. So far, health officials suspect lettuce as a possible culprit (though they’ve also said they can’t rule out other produce).
