06.dec.06
Knox News
Thomas Hargrove and Lee Bowman
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/national/article/0,1406,KNS_350_5194817,00.html
Taco Bell's corporate executives relied on their own private lab tests - not public health department investigations in three states - when they decided Wednesday to remove green onions suspected of E. coli contamination from all 5,800 restaurants nationwide.
State health departments in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have yet to confirm the foodstuff responsible for at least 77 illnesses in a three-state area. At least seven of those sickened have suffered potentially fatal acute kidney failure.
So far, public health officials have failed to determine the genetic fingerprint of the specific E. coli bacteria involved, critical information needed to confirm that a food-illness outbreak has occurred.
New Jersey Health Department spokesman Tom Slater was quoted as saying, "We don't know what the delay is. That is important information. Without that test, we can't confirm that these cases are connected, although obviously there has been an outbreak since so many people are getting sick."
New Jersey officials, relying on Taco Bell's private lab results, asked the state's chain of Taco Bell restaurants to discard "all current food supplies" received from McLane Foodservice Inc. of Burlington, N.J.
Pennsylvania Department of Health spokesman Richard McGarvey was quoted as saying, "We are waiting for the PFGE results so we can match them up to ours. We haven't been able to make that identification yet. But New Jersey and New York have been working on it longer than we have."
New Jersey officials say they hope to identify the disease by Thursday. New York medical officials are also trying.