Area Taco Bells stepping up sanitation efforts
Edison boy infected with E. coli taken out of intensive care
BY JAY BODAS
Staff Writer

SCOTT PILLING staff Area Taco Bells have been sanitizing their facilities and replaced their food inventory in light of the current E. coli outbreak.

EDISON — No specific food product has yet been conclusively identified as being the cause of a recent multistate outbreak of E. coli infection associated with Taco Bell restaurants, officials said on Sunday.

As of then, up to 61 individuals were reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as potentially sickened by an outbreak of E. coli infection that spanned five states: New Jersey (28), New York (21), Pennsylvania (9), Delaware (2) and South Carolina (1). The lone individual from South Carolina ate at a Pennsylvania Taco Bell, according to the CDC.

In New Jersey, the CDC reported 28 outbreak-associated cases, although as of Friday the state Department of Health and Senior Services was actually investigating a total of 58 possible cases from 13 counties across the state, due to different criteria between the two agencies as to what constitutes a confirmed case.

The Edison Health Department is monitoring all Taco Bells, including the one in the Inman Grove shopping center.

Almost 80 percent of the 58 cases involved eating at a Taco Bell franchise, state officials said.

Lab tests at the state Department of Health and Senior Services confirmed that 11 of 33 people with culture-confirmed cases of E. coli O157:H7 appear to have the same strain, officials announced Thursday.

The individuals reported getting sick between Nov. 9 and Dec. 6 and range in age from 1 year old to over 50.

Preliminary lab tests had found the “possible presence” of E. coli in green onions taken from Taco Bell restaurants, although the tests were not conclusive as of Saturday, according to a statement issued by the CDC.

On Dec. 6, following that preliminary announcement, Ready Pac, the processor of green onions for Taco Bell, said that it had taken “immediate precautionary measures” to protect public health.

“Even though the test results are not confirmed, we have taken every prudent precaution and immediately stopped production and shipments of all green onions,” said Steve Dickstein, vice president of marketing.

The green onions are processed in one section of the company’s plant in Florence, N.J.

“All raw and processed green onions have been removed from the plant as part of our precautionary measures,” Dickstein said. “Again, the test results are inconclusive, but we have taken these precautionary measures as we investigate the issues.”

In New Jersey, the state Health Department said there were two confirmed cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication of E. coli poisoning. One of the two HUS patients was an 11-year-old boy from Edison.

“He is doing well and is in the regular pediatric unit now,” said spokeswoman Suzanne Santangelo for the Children’s Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center on Friday. “When he was first admitted here he was sent to the pediatric intensive care unit, as initially he was in critical condition,” Santangelo said. “But he is doing much better now. I had spoken to the dad earlier as I had been going up there every day to see if they were willing to do interviews with the media. Understandably they wanted to wait and see how their son was doing first.”

As of Friday, Edison Health Department Chair John Grun said that he was aware of seven Edison residents who fell ill after eating at two area Taco Bells in South Plainfield and in the Inman-Grove Shopping Center in

Edison.

“There were seven Edison residents I am aware of, though there may be more,” Grun said. “Most of them ate at the South Plainfield Taco Bell, but at least one, and maybe two, ate at the Inman-Grove complex. I think the boy was the worst from Edison that I am aware of.”

Two other Taco Bell facilities in Edison include one at Menlo Park Mall and a second smaller Taco Bell inside a Target store, Grun said.

On Dec. 5, the township ordered the three Taco Bell locations in Edison to thoroughly clean their facilities.

“They completely sanitized the facilities that night,” Grun said. “They threw out all existing product and brought in new product from other stores. We inspected them again on Dec. 6 to make sure they had been sanitized and restocked. We also went over hand-washing techniques.”

“We also took ground beef, lettuce, tomato, and onions from all three locations in Edison for testing, and the samples we took were clean,” Grun said. “We took stool specimens from each employee in two of the three Edison restaurants, but not the smaller one in Target where food is prepared differently. We are still in the process of finishing testing.”

An employee in Edison tested positive for the bacteria.

“One of the kids who worked at the Menlo Mall Taco Bell also appears to be infected, though that is not yet confirmed,” Grun added.