FTC warns unexpected recall messages with links can be phishing; recalled lettuce reached Texas

By GvilleTX Newsroom

Recalled iceberg lettuce connected to a national Cyclospora outbreak was distributed to Texas foodservice customers between June 29 and July 16, 2026, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says, and the Federal Trade Commission has warned separately that unexpected recall or quality-inspection messages carrying links can be phishing attempts to take money or personal information.

The FDA says the recall came from Taylor Farms de Mexico and covers iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico, with foodservice products among the items shipped to Texas and other states. The agency told restaurants and retailers that received the recalled lettuce to discard it and to clean and sanitize surfaces the product had touched.

The FTC describes the phishing pattern in general terms. A recipient gets a message they were not expecting, it refers to a recall or a quality inspection, and it steers them toward a link. GvilleTX Newsroom found no agency alert or complaint record, independent of local reporting, confirming that a restaurant manager in the Texoma area received Cyclospora-related scam calls.

The illness behind the recall has been counted in the thousands nationally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 4,173 laboratory-confirmed cases of domestically acquired cyclosporiasis across 41 states since May 1, 2026. More than 7,400 additional cases still need investigation and analysis, according to the agency.

Texas is not among the states on the case list for this particular investigation. The FDA's July 24, 2026 accounting for the iceberg lettuce outbreak named Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Texas appears in the record as a destination for recalled product rather than as a state with counted illnesses. Oklahoma, which borders Cooke County, is on the case list.

The parasite turns up in Texas most summers. The Texas Department of State Health Services says cyclosporiasis cases occur in the state every year between May and August, and its published counts include 1,039 cases in 2019, 788 cases in 2023 and 414 cases in 2024. State rules make the illness reportable. DSHS says confirmed and suspected positive cases must reach the local or regional health department within one week, and the state laboratory sequences Cyclospora specimens with the CDC for outbreak investigations.

The City of Gainesville says its Food Inspection Program permits and inspects food establishments and conducts food-borne illness investigations in response to possible illness reports. Denton, to the south, lists a direct health and food-safety complaint route for foodborne illness along with restaurant score data, with complaints going through the city's health division.