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Taco Bell has temporarily removed lettuce, guacamole, and pico de gallo from many menu items as a parasite causing severe diarrhea spreads across multiple U.S. states.

The fast-food chain acted out of caution as health officials investigate cases of cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness linked to contaminated produce. The move affects popular items, including burritos, tacos, and bowls that typically feature fresh ingredients.

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[–] dead@hexbear.net 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Many of the comments in this thread seem to be downplaying the severity of this illness spreading. Read the article. It's not about getting sick 1 time from eating Taco Bell. We get it, you're better at eating Taco Bell than other people. You have the value menu committed to memory. You're best to have ever done it. You are the taco bell champion.

The illness (cyclospora cayetanensis) makes you have watery diarrhea all day for a month. Has taco bell on its own ever made any person have watery diarrhea for a month. This spread of this illness is not limited to Taco Bell. It is being spread by unknown contaminated vegetables. The CDC is unable to find the source because probably it was gutted by DOGE. You could get it from elsewhere than Taco Bell. You do not want to have diarrhea for a month.

[–] sovietknuckles@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago

You do not want to have diarrhea for a month.

kitty-cri-screm speech-side-l-1YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DOspeech-side-l-2

[–] red_giant@hexbear.net 13 points 1 day ago

People blaming Taco Bell for this when Taco Bell is apparently the only element of the US food supply chain actively trying to not give their customers diarrhea.

[–] SexUnderSocialism@hexbear.net 49 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

The US is just one giant hazard zone at this stage, and the world's breeding ground for all sorts of diseases. It should be permanently sealed off from the rest of the planet.

Good thing millions of people didnt just visit for a major sports event and consumed local food and gathered closely together. Oh, wait.

Nurgle's Garden

[–] Robert_Kennedy_Jr@hexbear.net 38 points 2 days ago (4 children)

How would anyone be able to tell the difference if they got explosive diarrhea from a parasite or just eating Taco Bell.

[–] EmmaGoldman@hexbear.net 45 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The reason some Americans unironically complain about bad shits after eating Mexican food is because their bodies are accustomed to having zero dietary fiber intake. Eating some beans and lettuce is enough to upset their stomach. Pathetic.

[–] stink@lemmygrad.ml 16 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Deadass I've never had bad gas after eating beans, I don't know why it was so trendy to say so. I do have the shits after eating raw onions though, that stuff destroys me

[–] EmmaGoldman@hexbear.net 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You're probably sensitive to fructans. Do cabbage, Brussels sprouts, or garlic mess you up too? Might be IBS.

[–] stink@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 1 day ago

I've never felt so seen 😔

[–] splendidsadiks@hexbear.net 10 points 2 days ago

When I lived in the US nobody would believe a word I said about this. Being maimed by mere hot sauce has to be some kind of gallbladder issue. Combine that with unexpected fiber & dairy & boom. Anyways congrats on the parasites.

[–] DornerStan@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 1 day ago

Some combination of adaptation to high fiber, gut biome, preparation method, and maybe genetics probably.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago

A lot of people in the US barely have any fiber so eating one bean is enough to lay them out.

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[–] dead@hexbear.net 8 points 1 day ago

This parasite gives you diarrhea for weeks, maybe up to a month. Taco Bell does not make people have diarrhea for a month.

[–] BforBigfoot@hexbear.net 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Robert, I thought you were supposed to fix this! /s

[–] Robert_Kennedy_Jr@hexbear.net 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Trust, this is all part of the plan. The Age of the Worm is here.

[–] AF_R@hexbear.net 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The guerrilla marketing for Dune 3 is really getting out of hand

[–] miz@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago

sandworm drink cup was bad enough

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[–] CliffordBigRedDog@hexbear.net 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)
[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Le_Wokisme@hexbear.net 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

that image really needs that red circle huh

[–] miz@hexbear.net 4 points 1 day ago

the American people are not intellectual, to put it mildly

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago

how else could we possibly understand it?

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 22 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I have to assume Im an irongut or just built differently cause I dont think I usually get the problems other people face when eating cheap food ? Maybe its 3rd world magic that protects my gut ? Like for example I see white people complain about spicy food hurting them while they shit and I do feel it but its just light tingling at worst. Similar with people getting food poisoning ? I dont go out that often but I cant remember that I ever got it.

[–] Wisp@hexbear.net 19 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I saw a theory that Taco Bell specifically has higher average fiber than an American typically consumes and that’s where the tbell shits meme came from. I never had a problem with it. As far as fast food slop, in my area at least, goes Taco Bell is towards the too

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 18 points 2 days ago (5 children)

certainly some people are more susceptible to what is likely norovirus here, but it's a completely different sensitivity for capacin/spicy food. capacin tolerance can be built over time, but norovirus is an gastro-ecological/immunological issue. gastro-ecology is fucking weird and the gut biome is poorly understood. eating is super gnarly from an immunological perspective: you're putting weird, complex stuff covered into foreign microbes into your body... a warm, wet place that is ideal for culturing microbes. the body makes it go through various layers of controlled, hostile environments to protect you and pull off materials for processing into fuel/nutrition, but generally keeps what you ingested compartmentalized from critical systems. noteable exceptions include alcohol and psychoactive drugs. and when something potentially dangerous--a quickly replicating virus--is detected, it triggers mechanisms to halt processes for harvesting energy and instead dump everything out of the nearest hole. in this way, the shits and puking is pretty good. it's a sign the system is working, even if the pilot is making some questionable choices. i've had acute food poisoning before and i felt a million times better after horking my guts out.

people are getting the shits at TB because a virus that lives in fecal material entered their mouth. norovirus is the most common fecal-oral disease. when a restaurant, residence, or whatever has frequent bouts of norovirus, it means the conditions there aren't sanitary. people are preparing food generally consumed raw without washing their hands after shitting or the water source there is contaminated with sewage. it can come into a food preparation place if the food processing facility upstream got feces on a surface that food came into contact with. it's a problem with the US food system where a single (understaffed, profit-maximizing) facility might process food for thousands or even tens of thousands of retail establishments, and one slicing blade not cleaned properly could touch millions of tomatoes or leaves of lettuce.

once somebody gets it, they can spread it to others through their shit or their barf, but if it's happening at a shitload of places... it's upstream. also, it can live on surfaces for quite a while.

increased susceptibility is usually genetic to receptors, but might be linked to diet (fatty foods, bile facilitated). it invariably results in gastroenteritis, but depending on the variant and your typical diet (high fiber vs high fat), the experienced symptoms could be way less.

so if you've been eating your vegetables/high fiber and stay hydrated, it could be less noticeable than someone who just eats deep friend spicy wings and pancake batter covered hotdogs between mugs of caffeinated starbucks milkshakes. the second person is going to have a fucking blow out that goes above and beyond their typical steatorrhea, because their body is already struggling to deconstruct all that nonsense and they were probably all backed up before the emergency evacuation order hit. either way, it's kind of good to get the shits if you're ingesting fecal-oral pathogens. if you don't, it's getting a chance to stay in your system longer and do some real damage.

also, really old people and young children get way more lit up by norovirus and are more likely to die. but generally, it runs its course in 24 hours and all most people need to do is stay hydrated because a lot of water is lost during an emergency evacuation.

This is not a norovirus outbreak and it is not specific to Taco Bell. Taco Bell is taking precautions because the supplier of the contaminated food hasn’t been identified. The diarrhea is being caused by a parasite, cyclospora cayetanensis, which causes cyclosporiasis. There’s currently an outbreak of it.

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[–] CthulhusIntern@hexbear.net 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Maybe you just eat more vegetables?

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

CW: Talk about animal products.

I mean I do eat veggies daily and for example the last 4 days I had salad (cause I like it during summer) but I also do eat trash food as well.

I also dare to say I hydrate more than the average person

I will also say If I eat meat its mostly chicken, turkey or fish. Like I eat steak maybe a handful of times throughout the year as a treat.

Even lost like 8kg in the last 10 months and I wasnt a particular heavy person before. Like I do like my new weight but im basicalyl where I was in my late teens which feels wild to me.

Now that I think about it I "probably" eat healthier than the average American which makes me more worried about my American comrades

Not trying to brag like I got other issues like mental heatlh for example doggirl-grin

[–] splendidsadiks@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago

Eating a small iceberg lettuce-centered salad with kroger-ass dressing is enough to ward off a lot of these issues. Some people will just live off chips until The Pain comes back I swear

[–] fox@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago

If you eat vegetables at all once a day you're ahead

[–] FnordPrefect@hexbear.net 20 points 2 days ago

🎵And I'm proud to be an American,
where I even shit Explosively!

And I'll gladly forgive the system that gave
cyclosporiasis to me

But I don't dare STAND UP
just quite yet, and maybe the rest of the day

'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this laaaand
God Bless *record scratch noise produced from his nethers*🎵 it! Oh fuck not again!

[–] AvocadoVapelung@hexbear.net 16 points 2 days ago

plague state

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 11 points 2 days ago (7 children)

tb is like the only fast food that's still cheap, the runs come with the price of admission.

[–] EmmaGoldman@hexbear.net 11 points 2 days ago (3 children)

The hell are you talking about? The cheapest stuff on the value menu at Taco Bell near me is over $5. It's like $30 a person to eat there now and it's fuckin' dead.

[–] LemmyFeed@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 days ago

You can't do al a cart. I know where I'm at, if I order using the taco bell app only, I can get a build your own lux box for $7. It comes with 3 items and a drink. It's the only thing I buy now.

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago

Is it really? Damn I didn't know it was that bad, well shit.

Those prices are brutal... where I am at a bean burrito there costs closer to $2. But we have better locally-owned places, so I don't go there very often.

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[–] newmou@hexbear.net 3 points 1 day ago

American: ah man I shit myself again

[–] tombruzzo@hexbear.net 8 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Looks like you can have shit in the US still

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