Taco Bell

Besides testing vegetables, the CDC and the FDA are examining cheese used at Taco Bell restaurants, Acheson said last week.

In a statement released Monday night, Taco Bell said independent laboratory test results of more than 300 samples of all the ingredients served in Taco Bell restaurants concluded that no ingredient contained theE. coli bacteria 0157:H7.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we switched our produce supplier for all of our produce, including white onions, for New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Since the independent scientific laboratory tests on all of our ingredients have concluded negative forE. coli, we have no information regarding any Taco Bell ingredient linked to this outbreak," said Greg Creed, president of Taco Bell Corp.

TheE. colioutbreak linked to Taco Bell was the third food-borne illness to plague U.S. consumers in recent months. In September, an outbreak ofE. coli-contaminated spinach sickened 199 people in 26 states and Canada and left three dead.

Also in September, an outbreak of salmonella was traced to tomatoes served in restaurants. The outbreak sickened 183 people in 21 states, as well as two people in Canada.

One expert said the recent spate of food-borne infections is a sign of new dangers in the U.S. food production and distribution system, which has become increasingly mechanized.

"This [the latestE. colioutbreak] is one of a series of outbreaks, which represent a change in the pattern of food-borne outbreaks," said Dr. Pascal James Imperato, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health and director of the Master of Public Health Program at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Previously,E. colicontamination occurred at the place where food was served as opposed to the source of growing and production, Imperato said. "This outbreak and the spinach outbreak are really a newer development. We are now seeing contamination at the source of production," said Imperato, a former New York City health commissioner.

Since growing and distributing vegetables has become an "agribusiness," with fewer but larger growers, processors and distributors, there's more chance of contamination, Imperato added. Contamination can occur from irrigation, which can spreadE. colifrom neighboring animal grazing lots, and during the packaging in large plants. And that packaging increasingly relies on plastic bags, which create an ideal environment for bacteria such asE. colito grow, he explained.

Imperato said he thought the only solution to the problem is increased government oversight and regulation.

Currently, the FDA is responsible for monitoring produce and seafood, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture has oversight for meat and poultry. But while the FDA has published sanitary standards for produce farmers, the agency has no regulatory authority to enforce those standards. Also, the FDA has few inspectors to even observe the level of voluntary compliance to those standards, Imperato said.

"It's going to require more rigorous oversight and the implantation and adherence to standards from the time the crop is grown in the field through the entire processing of the product and its distribution," he added.

Acheson agreed that new farming and distribution practices have increased the risk for contamination. Given the latest outbreak and the spinach problem in September, "it's fairly clear that something needs to changed," he said.

New regulation may be a part of the solution, Acheson said. But, he added, more may have to be done, including changing some farming and processing practices.

E. coli O157:H7is one of hundreds of strains of the bacteriumEscherichia coli. Although most strains are harmless, this strain produces a powerful toxin that can cause severe illness, such as bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps. The symptoms usually clear up within five to 10 days, according to the CDC.

More information

For more on the latestE. colioutbreak, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: Dec. 11, 2006, teleconference with Christopher Braden, M.D., epidemiologist, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and David W.K. Acheson, M.D., chief medical officer, U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition; Taco Bell press release, Dec. 11, 2006; Pascal James Imperato, M.D., M.P.H., Distinguished Service Professor and chairman, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, director, Master of Public Health Program, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta