By Mike Schnitzel
According to Nassau County Department of Health officials, 10 of 14 people who have come down with the 0157 strain of e-coli ate at a Taco Bell restaurant between Nov. 20 and Nov. 25.
Taco Bell had voluntarily closed eight restaurants in Nassau and Suffolk counties after the discovery of the outbreak, but had begun to reopen them at press time.
Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi's office said that the closures were merely a precautionary measure. "We're not looking for people to panic, and we're not looking to shut down the Taco Bell chain," Suozzi said. "We just want people to be careful."
Taco Bell spokesman Rob Poetsch said that the restaurants were reopening based on the criteria developed and agreed to by local health departments, and that local authorities had yet to determine a specific cause for the outbreak.
"We are very concerned for those who became ill, and our thoughts are with them as we continue to work closely with health officials as they try to determine the root cause of this," said Taco Bell Corp. President Greg Creed. "While the authorities do not know the source of this contamination, they have said there haven't been any new cases since Nov. 29, so they are confident that it is most likely no longer a threat."
Creed said that all food ingredients at the restaurants would be replaced and that the locations would be sanitized before they reopened.
Taco Bell was working with the Middlesex County (N.J.) Health Department to reopen a restaurant in South Plainfield where there was an outbreak. "While these restaurants have not been confirmed as the source of an e-coli outbreak, Taco Bell decided as a precautionary measure to throw out all existing food and bring in new food," Poetsch said.
There is no word yet on whether the outbreak at Taco Bell restaurants in New Jersey was related to the outbreak in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Comments about this story? MSchnitzel@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 265.
