E. Coli Outbreak Ends at Taco Bell

December 15, 2006 -- More than 90 Taco Bell restaurants in New Jersey have been reopened after a clean chit was given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These restaurants were blamed to be the source of E.coli outbreak in which 120 people were reported ill on Monday.

According to CDC, seventy one people were reported ill in the outbreak, of which 53 people were hospitalized, and eight were reported to have developed hemolytic-uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure.

After the reopening of the restaurants, Greg Creed, the company's president said, "I want to reassure our customers that it is absolutely safe to eat at Taco Bell."

"We withdrew green onions from our restaurants but we also took the extra precaution to change our produce supplier in the Northeast," he told CNN's "American Morning."

Creed also added that their restaurants have taken all the necessary steps needed to ensure that that the food eaten at Taco Bell is safer and hygienic. He even claimed that they have removed the entire food stored from the restaurants under quarantine and re-sanitized everything as a part of measures taken.

Source, still a mystery

For uncovering the real cause of the outbreak of E.coli, four Democratic Senators, Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey have called on for a joint task force from the federal agencies. They said, "report to Congress and the public on the cause of these incidents and recommend changes in laws and regulations to protect American's food and health."

Initially, investigators blamed the green onions used in the Taco bells as the source of E.coli; however, testing the samples at the Taco Bell restaurants across the country, proved their apprehension, baseless. The CDC, state and local health officials interview the victims of E.coli to determine the cause of this outbreak.

Separately, white onions at a Taco Bell in Hempstead, New York, tested positive for E. coli Monday, said New York Health Department spokesman Marc Carey, but it was not the same strain as the E. coli involved in the outbreak.

"As a precaution, all food that was being used in the restaurant was taken out of production and replaced with new food," said Taco John's president and CEO, Paul Fisherkeller.

With the investigation still on, the outbreak of E.coli in a different Taco chain has hit the news headlines.

About E.coli

Studies show that a leading cause for food borne illness that is highly contagious is E.coli, which is commonly associated with improperly cooked or contaminated meat, contaminated leafy vegetables like spinach and lettuce, causing abdominal cramps, fever, kidney failure, bloody diarrhea, blindness, paralysis and rarely but even death could be caused by certain strains of this bacteria. Even drinking unpasteurized milk or contaminated water causes the infections related to E.coli. More than hundred strains of this bacteria are available, in which few are harmless and few, harmful.