Taco Bell E. coli Outbreak: An Update
Throughout the day there have been updates regarding the E. coli outbreak linked to Taco Bell restaurants in New Jersey, New York and (as announced late this afternoon) Pennsylvania. There are now over 40 confirmed cases in New Jersey and New York. Both states are still investigating other reported illnesses. Pennsylvania is investigating 4 reports of illness that may be linked to Taco Bell restaurants.
Genetic fingerprinting has not yet linked all of the E. coli cases to each other or Taco Bell. At least 14 Taco Bell restaurants may be involved in the outbreak, including 5 in New Jersey, 8 in New York and 1 in Pennsylvania. There is very little information out of Pennsylvania at this time. For more information, see the Taco Bell E. coli outbreak information on the Pritzker | Ruohonen website. The website also has additional information about E. coli.
This outbreak, as with all foodborne outbreaks, is not about numbers—it is about people. There are three children with E. coli infections that developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening illness that is the leading cause of kidney failure in children in the United States. These children may take weeks or months to recover. They may not fully recover. One 11-year-old boy is still in critical condition. Others, mostly children, were extremely sick. Weak and scared, they survived days of violent illness.
These illnesses were preventable. These children unwittingly ate E. coli-contaminated feces with their beef tacos. Health officials are still working on tracing the illnesses to a food source. If it was the ground beef, it means the processor let manure get on the beef before grinding it, and then Taco Bell did not adequately cook the beef to kill the E. coli bacteria. If the food source was the lettuce, the contamination could have happened anywhere from field to fork.
Restaurants are responsible for any food they serve that causes food poisoning. It doesn’t matter if the contamination happened in the meat processing plant, in the field, or in their kitchens. Restaurants are liable when their customers get food poisoning.
Pritzker | Ruohonen is a nationally-recognized leader in the area of food poisoning litigation, including E. coli lawsuits. The firm has recently recovered a $6,425,000 settlement for victims of a food poisoning outbreak that sickened people in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and surrounding states. To contact an E. coli lawyer at Pritzker | Ruohonen for a free consultation, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900, e-mail attorney Fred Pritzker at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com or use the firm’s online-consultation form.
