December 12, 2006
FEDS TO TACO BELL: WHOOPS, NEVER MIND, OUR BAD
I would estimate that about 50% of Taco Bell customers on any given day suffer from gastrointestinal distress within 48 hours of eating the chain's food. Throw a rumor of food poisoning associated with the chain to the public and pretty soon you've got a public health epidemic. Substantiate that rumor with lab tests identifying the E. coli bacteria in samples of Taco Bell ingredients and one can almost hear the lawsuits being filed as every person who got the runs after eating a Seven-Layer Burrito the day after drinking fifteen beers at a college party smells a payday, among other things.
Now that the damage has been done to the chain's reputation, however, it is time for the Feds to admit that they goofed on finding E. coli in Taco Bell's ingredient samples. In fact, the lab NY health officials used admitted they were having trouble even distinguishing between green onions and white onions.
Federal testing has failed to confirm green onions as the source of an outbreak of E. coli that sickened 64 people who ate in Taco Bell restaurants in the Northeast, health officials said Monday.
Over the weekend, Taco Bell officials said they determined that scallions were the likely source of the bacteria. But follow-up federal testing of those samples were negative for E. coli.
''In that context, we have not ruled out any food items,'' said Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer for the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
Meanwhile, health officials in New York said a sample of white onions taken from a Taco Bell restaurant tested positive for E. coli. However, that strain of bacteria hasn't been linked to any cases of illness in the United States anytime in the previous 30 days. The positive sample initially was mistakenly identified as being green onion, Acheson said.
I'm sure once this all gets sorted out, the Feds will go out of their way to publicize the safety and cleanliness of Taco Bell's fare. The media will be just as diligent in clearing the air. Like the article I linked to here, which I found buried in the back pages of today's paper.
Tagged:Posted by Lexiphane at December 12, 2006 10:12 AM
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