Taco Bell Case Study

TACO BELL CASE STUDY.

A2034298 Taco Bell Case Study

On 30th November 2006, officials of Taco Bells Corporation learned that many of their customers had gotten sick with a virulent strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) from eating in one of their restaurant chains in New Jersey. Many cases of E. coli bacteria relating to the Taco Bell kept popping up throughout the Northeast in New Jersey, Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania. Majority of the victims infected were vegetarian, making authorities focus on the produce instead of the ground beef. Green onions got suspected to be the cause of these outbreaks; there was extensive testing of Taco Bell ingredients determined to be the source. As word of this quickly reached the media, more cases continued to be seen. People started asking if the food in Taco Bell would be safe to eat. What caused the E. coli? What were the measures that Taco Bell was doing to eliminate this problem? The public relations director of Taco Bells Laurie Gannon found herself in a difficult position, .

Because of the E. coli outbreak, Taco Bell sales decreased by 2% in the fourth quarter. Almost half of the $20 millions got lost in sales while the other half was related to consumer research, legal, marketing and other expenses. There were several negative impacts on the outbreak, many lawsuits filed by customers who became sick after eating from any Taco Bell restaurant. It took several years for the chains to recover fully from the impact of the outbreak. The E. coli 0157:H7 strain traced to the Taco Bell outbreak makes potent toxic that get latched in the intestinal cell causing fever, blindness, abdominal cramps, kidney failure, paralysis or even death. Taco bell endured criticism for the beef that it used. In November 30, the owners of this Franchise agreed to shut down, and have them cleaned professionally by disposing of its existing supplies. Officials found no contaminated food, making them believe that workers at the restaurant were to blame. Taco Bell decided to close eight of their restaurant voluntarily Nassau and Suffolk in New York, on 4th of December. The restaurant had to throw out all its existing food and bought in new food. They thoroughly cleaned all their utensils and cooking equipment. As outbreak grew, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) got involved in an extensive investigation where they began testing Taco Bell facilities and their ingredients. Taco bell responded by hiring qualified and Certified Laboratories of Plainview in New York to conduct some tests on 300 samples of their ingredients. Their food safety team got flown in so as to collect samples of every tortilla, Mexican seasoning from deer park restaurant and tomatoes. Testing determined that three samples of the green onions called scallions got contaminated with this strain of E. coli bacteria. On December 9, 2006 Taco Bell Corporation affirmed that their restaurants were safe and that all ingredients had tested negative for 0157:H7 strain of E. coli after follow up federal testing, .

Taco Bell had survived several previous health issues the first case reported was of a potentially deadly strain of E. coli 0157:H7 in Middlesex County of New Jersey on 17th November. Infected patients got questioned where they had recently eaten. Officials determined that signals pointed to a South Plainfield restaurant of Taco Bell New Jersey where nine out of eleven victims had eaten. In November of 1999, ten customers got sick with E. coli infection after eating at Taco bell restaurant in San Francisco where ground beef got suspected to be the source. In September of 2000, the company got accused of selling Kraft taco shells that were genetically modified to grocery stores. The shells contained some molecules of protein (Cry9c), which was unapproved, for consumption of humans. In December 2006, Taco Bell restaurants got implicated in hepatitis A outbreak in multiple countries, in Nevada, Kentucky and Florida. Analysis revealed that the green onion was likely one of the source, but these ingredients got contaminated prior to their arrival at the Taco bell restaurants. On December 13, 2006 Taco Bell got determined that lettuce from its suppliers in California was the probable source for the outbreak of E. coli. The FDA and CDC confirmed this after additional statistical analysis of the company's ingredients. Since lettuce is server in approximately 70% of all Taco bell menu items, it increased the probability that it would be the source. The CDC indicated that the contamination of lettuce occurred before reaching the restaurants, .

Following the E. coli outbreak, New York lawmakers called on United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), CDC and FDA to form a joint task forces so as to examine the E. coli outbreak, recommend necessary changes and regulations to prevent food contaminations. In April of 2007, the USDA published guidelines for the produce industry to prevent contamination in the food supply chains. The FDA, CDC and USDA, are all working together with the state and health departments in the local to detect infections rapidly, to identify sources, and provide information on treatment of infections. The CDC, a leading agency for outbreaks investigation and conducting disease surveillance in United States, top priority, is to educate the general population. The FDA is responsible for regulating everything American people eat, except meat, processed egg products and poultry that regulated by USDA. The FDA launched the Lettuce Safety initiative in August 2006 because of the contamination of spinach whose objectives were to assess current industrial approaches, to alert customers early and respond to outbreaks rapidly. The USDA develops, and executes policy on farming, food and agriculture and aims to meet any needs of farmers and rancher. It works to assure food safety, promote agricultural trade, production and get concerned with assisting farmers with the sale of crops in the world and domestic markets. It is currently inspecting the manufacturing plants where Taco bell's ground beef gets cooked then shipped to restaurant. They have rested guidelines in place for their suppliers that should be followed,