The Big Brand Behind Taco Bell's Lettuce

Although it's an American institution, at this point, sometimes venerated, sometimes scorned, it may surprise you that Taco Bell has been around for over six decades. While the Mexican-influenced chain is pretty ubiquitous across the American landscape, there's still a lot we don't know about the fine points of the fast food behemoth. We know that Cargill supplies Taco Bell's beef, but other ingredients and suppliers are hard to pin down because restaurants often keep these details secret from their competition as proprietary information. It appears, however, that Taco Bell's lettuce supplier has been pinned down, and it is Taylor Farms, based in Salinas, CA.

Unfortunately, much like we know who supplies Kirkland's Signature Organic Eggs because of a public health emergency, Taylor Farms has been linked to Taco Bell because of the 2026 cyclosporiasis outbreak traced back to lettuce from Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. The USDA tied cyclosporiasis contamination to a processing plant in Mexico, which has been reported to be run by Taylor Farms. Although Taylor Farms stated on the recall page of its website that there were no current recalls during the process, Business Insider reported via an anonymous source that the outbreak was associated with the produce company.

Taylor Fresh Foods was founded in 1995 by Bruce Taylor, the third generation of his family to stake his claim in the fresh produce business. Taylor Farms now runs a massive organization with 24,000 employees and is reportedly one of the largest suppliers and growers of produce in the country, with approximately $7 billion in revenue, annually, providing 265 million servings of fresh produce weekly. The company runs 30 processing facilities across North America, and outside of the U.S., it operates in Canada, Mexico, and Western Europe.

Aside from supplying Taco Bell with its iceberg lettuce, Taylor Farms is a major produce supplier for Chipotle and McDonald's, among other large restaurant chains. On the consumer side, it specializes in pre-packaged salads and produce, like salad kits and bowls, prepared vegetable kits and trays, ready-to-cook veggie blends and meals, and mixed snack packages, containing things like apples, carrots, cheese, and nuts. Its packaged products are sold at Costco, Target, Walmart, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Trader Joes, and HEB, among others.