MEXICO CITY, July 18 (Reuters) - Mexico's health and

agricultural ministries announced they are investigating a large

outbreak of a foodborne illness in the U.S. linked to iceberg

lettuce grown in Mexico and sold at Taco Bell.

Cofepris, Mexico's sanitary regulator, and Senasica, the

country's agricultural and food safety regulator, said in a

statement Friday that they have an interagency technical working

group investigating the matter and adopting preventive measures.

The group has undertaken inspections and traceability

analyses that "are strictly preventive in nature" and "aimed at

mitigating any potential health risk," the agencies said.

The CDC has reported around 100 hospitalizations of people

becoming sick with cyclosporiasis, a parasitic infection that

can cause severe diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms,

after eating shredded lettuce at Taco Bell restaurants in

Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.

On Friday, Taylor Farms, a California-based lettuce

supplier, and ​food distributor Sysco ( SYY ), America's

largest, said they are removing iceberg lettuce sourced from

central Mexico, based on information provided by the U.S. Food

and Drug Administration (FDA).

An industry source who requested anonymity because they were

not authorized to speak to the media told Reuters that the

lettuce was produced as ⁠5-pound (2.3-kg) bags at Taylor Farms'

facility in Guanajuato, in central Mexico. The source also said

that Sysco ( SYY ) widely distributes such bags to hospitals, ball parks

and fast-food chains.

Mexico's health and agricultural ministries cautioned in

their statement that "the investigation remains ongoing, and it

is important to emphasize that identifying a product's country

of origin through traceability does not, by itself, confirm that

contamination occurred in Mexico."

Taylor Farms' growing and ‌processing facilities in ⁠Mexico

were the source of another major U.S. cyclosporiasis outbreak. A

2013 outbreak sickened more than 600 people in 25 states,

according to the CDC, and was traced to salad mix from Taylor

Farms de Mexico in Guanajuato.