![\"Health](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/FullSizeRender.jpg\" "\\"Health")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Health officials recommend avoiding raw produce and eating cooked or steamed veggies and fruit during the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak.<\/p>\n
Linda Robertson<\/p>\n
lrobertson@MiamiHerald.com<\/p>\n
Thousands of people have fallen ill with a tiny parasite that often hides in fresh produce and is known to cause explosive diarrhea. And, as of Thursday, Miami-Dade County leads the state of Florida<\/a> with the highest number of confirmed cyclosporiasis cases.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get too anxious, though. That doesn\u2019t mean you should swap your broccoli for cookies.<\/p>\n There are safe ways to eat fruits, veggies and leafy greens during the outbreak as health officials figure out the cause.<\/p>\n We spoke with Dr. Edmara Nieves, associate medical director of the emergency room at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, about what foods you can or should avoid.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what to know:<\/p>\n What\u2019s causing the cyclosporiasis outbreak?<\/p>\n As of Thursday morning, federal and state health officials are still trying to pinpoint the source or sources of the ongoing outbreak that is wreaking havoc across the country and has made over 100 people sick in Florida. However, Michigan health officials have begun to point to lettuce and other salad greens<\/a> as a possibility.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Miami-Dade now leads Florida in cases of people sick with diarrhea parasite<\/a><\/p>\n That would be in line with past outbreaks of the microscopic parasite, Cyclospora cayetanensis, which has previously been linked to contaminated fresh produce \u2014 things like basil, cilantro, raspberries, spring mix. People can get sick from drinking or swallowing contaminated water, too, like from swimming pools and lakes, but Nieves said it\u2019s rare for outbreaks to stem from contaminated water in the U.S.<\/p>\n Health officials haven\u2019t publicly named any distributor or brand yet. However, fast-food giant Taco Bell isn\u2019t taking any chances and has announced that it\u2019s \u201cvoluntarily\u201d pulled ingredients at some restaurants as a \u201cprecautionary measure.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe health and safety of our guests is our top priority,\u201d Taco Bell Corp said in a statement to NBC5 Chicago. \u201cPublic health officials have not confirmed<\/a> a link to Taco Bell or any specific ingredient, supplier, restaurant or retailer. While authorities continue their broader review, Taco Bell has voluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients at select restaurants as a precautionary measure. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and follow the guidance of public health authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n What fruits, veggies to not eat during the cyclosporiasis outbreak<\/p>\n You may have seen people on social media making jokes and videos about swapping out their salad for ice cream to avoid getting sick. But remember: Unhealthy meals will never be the doctor\u2019s order.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are always advocating for a healthy diet so we would never say, \u2018Don\u2019t eat your veggies or don\u2019t eat your fruits,\u2019\u201d said Nieves. \u201cSo just be more conscious about what you\u2019re picking up from the grocery store.\u201d<\/p>\n However, given the current situation, it may be best to avoid eating raw vegetables and other uncooked fresh produce, at least until investigators figure out the source or sources of the current outbreaks, Nieves said. There are other ways to get your greens, after all (more on that in a bit).<\/p>\n \u201cPrevious outbreaks that the United States have seen have been linked to imported produce. So we\u2019re talking about leafy greens, basil, cilantro, some other foods, especially fruits, berries, raspberries and then bagged salads,\u201d said Nieves.<\/p>\n Nieves has some tips to make sure you can still get your greens during the outbreak.<\/p>\n For fruit, Nieves recommends eating fruits with skins you can peel off such as bananas, mandarins, pineapples and mangoes.<\/p>\n If you still want to eat berries, another fruit or veggies, make sure to give it a thorough washing, even if you purchased prewashed produce. That\u2019s where your COVID-19 pandemic handwashing skills can come into play.<\/p>\n \u201cRinsing this fruit is not enough,\u201d Nieves said, explaining that berries, just like other fruits and veggies, need to get a good scrub \u201cunder running water for minutes\u201d to try and kill off the parasite.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of those commercial products to wash our fruit and veggies have proven not to be effective, so we\u2019re talking about very thorough rinsing and lots of handwashing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Another option to reduce your risk of getting sick \u2014 cook your food.<\/p>\n Steaming your fresh produce, like broccoli, in a pan for a few minutes should be enough to kill off the parasite. Health officials in Michigan, one of the hardest-hit areas, are recommending people heat up their food to at least 158 F (70 C) to kill off the parasite.<\/p>\n The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Michigan health officials also have some additional tips to reduce the risk of getting ill. Those include:<\/p>\n Purchasing whole heads of lettuce instead of prewashed and bagged lettuce.Discard two or three layers of leaves, wash the inner leaves and peel produce when you can, since the parasite usually sits on the outer surface.Scrub firm fruits and veggies, such as melons and cucumbers, with a clean produce brush and \u201ccut away any damaged or bruised areas.\u201d You should also refrigerate cut, peeled or cooked fruits and veggies as soon as possible, which, per the CDC, means within two hours.How many cases of the diarrhea parasite are there?<\/p>\n Nearly 7,000 cases of the gastrointestinal illness have been reported across the country, though there may be more since not everyone will go to the doctor for testing, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s latest update. So far, 1,645 of the reported cases are confirmed cyclosporiasis and more than 5,100 are still under investigation.<\/p>\n Florida has reported just over 100 confirmed cases, as of the newest update.<\/p>\n Michelle Marchante<\/a><\/p>\n Miami Herald<\/p>\n Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health\u2019s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald\u2019s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow.\u00a0 Dr. Edmara Nieves, associate medical director in the emergency department at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale. Rick Gilbert How to eat fruit, veggies during the cyclosporiasis outbreak<\/p>\n
\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n
\n Support my work with a digital subscription<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health officials recommend avoiding raw produce and eating cooked or steamed veggies and fruit during the ongoing cyclosporiasis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-342701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}