Taco Bell E.Coli Hits NYC

It was a matter of time. After reports of people sickened by E.coli from food eaten at Taco Bells in NJ and Long Island, there are now reports of people sickened in New York City and other NY counties, as well as in Delaware, South Carolina and Utah. According to the NY Times, the NY State Health Department found the same virulent strain of the bacteria "present in patients who ate at restaurants on Long Island, in Clinton County in upstate New York and in Delaware."

Though Taco Bell has removed green onions from its products, it's also unclear whether or not green onions are the source of the E.coli, and if they are, where is the outbreak stemming from? The NY Times and Newsday look at the scallions' route, but a Washington Heights woman told WCBS she didn't believe green onions were causing the problems: "It's the management that is the problem."

A Taco Bell manager, upset that he had to reduce his employees' hours, complained to the Post that the store is being "punished for something they had no control over." And the Long Island 11 year old who was sickened by the three tacos with cheese and lettuce will be suing Taco Bell for millions. Tyler Vormittag suffered from fever, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea, losing 9 pounds. (And, no, E.coli is not a good diet idea.)

Giant Microbe plush of E.coli (Escherichia coli) is $6.95

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Food on December 8, 2006 9:59 AM

Comments [rss]

Sternel

Friday's Newsday is reporting that the tristate Taco Bells get their scallions from the same company that was the cause of October's Great Spinach Scare. I think I'll just stop eating raw food entirely...

scazza

Does anyone other than me remember when the exact same thing happened like 10-15 years ago? I ate at Taco Bell all the time as a kid and I remember when they had the exact same problem with the scallions. No one is mentioning this, and I wonder why. Maybe it's too far in the past to be considered a chronic problem for them, but I think it is.

a detective

maybe that washington heights woman knows something we don't: management has been pooping in the green onions bin. probably a good choice--it'd hide the smell better than say, the lettuce bin.

deep pockets

grumpy girl,

this kid's symptoms sound a lot closer to what I had than what your cousin had. $11 million is what you ask for when you suffer brain damage or loss of a limb or death. The survivors of people that die in plane crashes don't get this much.

And what's up with waiting to take him to a doctor? If he was that sick at 2 AM wouldn't you go to an emergency room? If there was blood coming out of his ass how could a doctor think it was the flu?

"The blood was just coming out from him without stopping. It was just pure terror." So you waited? If that was my mom I'd sure HER for negligence.

My guess is that this settles for under a half million. They'll have a hard time proving the restaurant knew there was a problem, at least based on what we know now. They'll probably sue the company the grew and packed the onions. Hell, sue everyone.

grumpygirl

there is a difference, deep pockets, between the vomiting and diarrhea you get from normal food poisoning and the kind you get from e coli.

you can ask my once very healthy cousin, who ended up with a case of it that landed her in the hospital for over a month, shut down her kidneys, put her in a coma, made her need blood transfusions and then needed chemo drugs to make it go away. 6 years later she's still suffering the effects.

11 million? not even close to enough.

jg

bklynd, uh .. yeah. let's just say I haven't had any coffee yet and leave it at that.

my second gripe still stands, however.

bklynd

uh, jg, I think you missed the sarcasm, there. go back and look at what #1 was referring to.

jg

to #1: capitalism, I'm sorry to report, does not contain anything that causes indigestion. perhaps you should re-read the ingredients. while it may be fun to think that duplicitous managers and CEOs are intentionally poisoning patrons in an attempt to save money, the stock value and amount of money they'll lose from this scandal is not really worth the trade-off of reduced employee hours in the coming weeks. please go back to economics 101, re-read the "mechanics of the domineering corporate machine" chapter and come back in a month. and no, david novak does not have a personal interest in seeing you vomit your guts up for a week.

on another note, instead of regulating what new yorkers can and can't eat maybe mayor bloomberg should think about implementing some tougher health standards first. personally, I'd rather be able to choose whether or not I'd like to eat a delicious, high-trans-fat donut this afternoon instead of sitting in a hospital bed with e. coli.

matt

e. coli looks like a metroid...

deep pockets

Vomiting and diarrhea are worth millions? Guess I should have sued Bouley Bakery. I'd be on easy street.

I hope that kid (and his parents and his greedy lawyer) get nothing.

tim

you know, there is really a lot of merit in the observation of this fine citizen from washington heights. scallions don't cause indigestion people, capitalism does. in fact, i bet the management put that e. coli in there deliberately, simply so they could reduce their workers' hours in the aftermath. do you see how their words and actions are in opposition? do you see the duplicity? this poor 11 year old didn't only swallow a satisfying 4000 calories worth of cheese, lettuce, and green onions but also a hearty mouthful of exploitation, and that makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it.