Here is how cyclospora outbreak is affecting businesses
Visits to fast casual restaurants with lettuce-heavy menus are seeing declining foot traffic in the wake of the cyclosporiasis outbreak.
Foot traffic to popular food and restaurant chains has declined as the outbreak of cyclosporiasis , linked to lettuce from Mexico, grows in scope, and consumers take steps to avoid getting sick.
Cases of illness connected to the cyclospora parasite expanded to four more states , bringing the total number of affected states to nine, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told CBS News on Friday. It's also been linked to at least one additional, but yet-to-be-identified food product , the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
Grocers and restaurant chains featuring lettuce-heavy menus have experienced a drop-off in visits in the wake of cyclosporiasis, which causes explosive diarrhea, spreading across the U.S.
Data provided to CBS News from foot traffic analytics platform Placer.ai shows that consumers are shying away from eating greens and even avoiding some establishments altogether amid the outbreak.
On July 18, the most recent date for which statistics are available, visits to fast casual restaurant chains like Cava, Chopt, Chipotle, Panera, and Sweetgreen were all down compared to an average Saturday between January 1 and July 6. Visits to Taco Bell , which served the lettuce under recall at some of its locations before removing it from store menus, dropped the most dramatically, by nearly 30%.
None of the restaurant chains immediately responded to CBS News' request for comment about the lower-than-usual foot traffic.