![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8a28691cafc9a33ce3426af06da36efd70-GettyImages-1400367566.rvertical.w570.jpg\")
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\n New York subscribers got exclusive early access to this story in\u00a0Eating New York<\/strong>, a newsletter featuring food news and advice straight from our critics\u2019 mouths. Sign up here<\/strong><\/a> to get it in your inbox.\n <\/p>\n \n Wash your lettuce well. New York restaurant workers and wholesalers say they\u2019re closely tracking the rapidly spreading gastrointestinal bug that has sickened thousands<\/a> of Americans over the past three months \u2014 but the outbreak has prompted few changes in their extant food-safety protocols. Nobody we talked to cited slowing demand for salads (\u201cI haven\u2019t noticed any change in orders,\u201d said a host at Michael\u2019s<\/a>; \u201cSalad orders are the same,\u201d confirmed one at Serafina<\/a>) and without any firm idea where this year\u2019s cyclospora outbreak originated, restaurants are simply washing, waiting, and praying.<\/p>\n \u201cI only learned about it in the past few weeks when it hit the news,\u201d says Angela Cawley, project and marketing manager of John\u2019s Pizzeria<\/a> in Times Square. \u201cOf course it\u2019s something to be worried about. We\u2019re trying to do our best to maintain the healthiest environment for offering these products. We\u2019re still being thorough with everything we\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n At Di Fara<\/a> in Midwood, employee Natali Espinoza also heard about the outbreak but says workers are taking the same precautions as ever to clean their produce: \u201cWe haven\u2019t gotten anything from the health department,\u201d Espinoza says. \u201cWe really rinse it all the time even if it comes prewashed.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s the same story at the Mighty Quinn\u2019s<\/a> chain and Joe\u2019s Pizza<\/a> on Carmine Street, where existing protocols already call for thorough cleaning: \u201cEverything is washed and prepped in our basement ahead of time and brought up to the kitchen,\u201d says a worker at Joe\u2019s. \u201cIt\u2019s the best we can do until we get more guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n One reason the investigation has been so challenging is that no one yet knows exactly how the parasite got into the food supply. The illness can have a weeklong incubation period, which means a patient\u2019s symptoms may not appear for several days, and it does not spread from person to person, making contact tracing difficult.<\/p>\n It does not help matters that more than 20,500<\/a> federal health department workers left or were pushed out by the Trump administration last year, including more than 400 FDA inspectors who monitor farms and food-processing plants, and 240 consumer-safety specialists who safeguard food products, ProPublica found<\/a>. As a result of the layoffs, the FDA reduced<\/a> its surveillance inspections of food producers and drugmakers and halted<\/a> a laboratory-testing program for food pathogens, including cyclospora.<\/p>\n In the meantime, state health officials suggest the same commonsense measures that restaurants already use: Wash all fresh herbs, fruits, and vegetables under running water before eating or cutting into them. Cooking foods by heating them to 158 degrees Fahrenheit or higher will kill cyclospora, but, to be truly safe from the parasite, some experts advised skipping<\/a> fresh produce entirely, especially salad bars, at least for a couple of weeks<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what Cawley, at John\u2019s Pizzeria, believes she may have to do: \u201cI\u2019ve had both lettuce and basil every day,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s concerning that it\u2019s affecting healthy stuff. Should I just start eating pizza instead?\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up for Eating New York<\/p>\n Weekly food news, straight from our critics\u2019 mouths and just for subscribers.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
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