07/15/2026
Cyclospora and Farm-Fresh Produce
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It has been a CRAZY weekend and week so far in the lettuce-growing world.
In case you've been on vacation from the news, we'll give you the quick scoop:
Thousands of people in the USA have become infected with a parasite called Cyclospora.
The state with the highest number of cases is Michigan.
And it's not even close.
Not really in northern Michigan, per se, but Michigan nonetheless.
The outbreak of cyclosporiasis has consumers and health officials rightfully concerned.
And the big mystery is - we don't know WHERE it's coming from.
It's almost certainly coming from fresh (or frozen) produce.
At this point, it appears to be from fresh produce, possibly lettuce or similar.
The produce likely came from a single source somewhere far away (likely California or similar).
Why the outbreak is the most concentrated in SE Michigan likely has something to do with our extremely complex fresh food supply chain.
Why does this matter at Bear Creek??
Three main reasons.
1) Our phones are ringing off the hook with concerned consumers.
2) Local food is a great alternative to massive nationwide outbreaks.
3) We cannot possibly sustain this rate of BCOF lettuce consumption.
Item #1
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We have fielded dozens (hundreds?) of inquiries via phone, email, social media, and in-person.
In fact, it has been requested so many times that we address this issue in our emails - that's why we're writing this article right now!
Not because we're health officials or epidemiologists, but because we're transparent local farmers who have a strong grasp on how the nationwide food supply chain works.
And this is not our first rodeo in this arena.
It wasn't but a few years ago we had back-to-back late-fall Romaine recalls across the nation.
Similar conversations with customers, except, and this a BIG difference, we KNEW it was Romaine at the time and the personal discomfort was not as severe as the current cyclosporiasis symptoms.
Item #2
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Local food, by it's very nature, is extremely decentralized.
It's physically impossible to have a nationwide outbreak from a small, local farm.
Because.
It's a small, local farm.
That's the whole thing.
We sell 99.9% of our produce ON OUR FARM.
We do not distribute to SE Michigan, or Ohio, or any other state.
Heck, we don't distribute anywhere.
We don't supply Taco Bell, or Meijer, or Kroger, or even Whole Foods.
We supply our own market with our own lettuce.
Period.
So when you call to ask if our farm-fresh produce is safe from 'the parasite', our answer will always be the same. If we grew it, then it's safe. And it has no correlation to the nationwide events.
Unlike bird flu which was spread by flying birds, domestic and wild, from farm to farm, our lettuce does not hang out with other lettuces.
Our lettuce does not visit its extended lettuce family downstate on the weekends. And our lettuce sure as heck does not have any interaction with its distant lettuce cousins in California.
Item #3
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This item is perhaps the most urgently relevant to your BCOF lettuce consumption.
As with other nationwide lettuce recalls in years past - we will sell out.
When we seeded this lettuce 9 weeks ago, nobody told us to grow 10x as much as usual because there might be a major parasite outbreak in mid-July with a Michigan epicenter.
We have sold over 700 bags of lettuce since Friday.
We're honored. Truly.
But we will run out.
So until things settle down, we will be limiting lettuce sales to our 5oz bag size.
Similar to the toilet paper rationing of the Covid-era, the only thing we could think to do is limit the bag size to help our existing lettuce inventory stretch a little bit further.
We have lots more lettuce growing after this planting, but nothing would be enough for the current situation.
We plant a similar amount of lettuce every 7 days. Usually around 8,000 lettuce plants per week.
But it's also 7-9 weeks before we harvest the lettuce that we plant.
So while we already have 7 more plantings in the queue after this current planting, they are all evenly spaced out. And they cannot be 'sped up' to grow faster on account of the current events.
And if we seed more this week, we will likely have too much lettuce in September rather than right now.
One bright spot?
We have our first-in-farm-history July Spinach harvest in the Market right now as well!
So if you wish you could get more BCOF green goodness, may we recommend giving some summer Spinach a try?
Another good option is to skip lettuce salads altogether to enjoy all of the lovely tomato, cucumber, zucchini salad options that summer provides!
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We hope you found this information useful.
We hope this helps you see things from our side of the equation.
And we hope you remember how vital local farms are to our community and our economy in good times and in bad.
If everyone always bought lettuce from local farms the way they are right now, we'd have a whole lot more and busier small farms!
And that wouldn't be such a bad thing now would it???
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PS: We are not public health officials. We are not professional scientists. The thoughts, perspectives, and insights offered above are not meant to replace medical advice, health department notices, etc.
