SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – ABC News has learned a salmonella outbreak at Taco Bell restaurants across the country was kept secret for more than three months. 68 people in 10 states became ill and at least 20 of them hospitalized, but the public wasn't notified until now.
The outbreak happened last October and November. In late January the Centers for Disease Control released a cryptic report about the salmonella contamination. In it the agency referred to Taco Bell only as a "Mexican-style, fast-food restaurant chain" or "restaurant chain A."
It wasn't until a food safety website finally figured out Taco Bell was “restaurant chain A,” did Taco Bell or the CDC confirm the salmonella outbreak. The CDC says by the time the information on the outbreak was posted, the threat was over, so there was no need to tell the public.
Taco Bell customer Bob Wright said, “I would believe as a publicly funded institution they have a moral right to advise of any type of hazard that could affect the public."
The CDC said the investigators weren't able to narrow down which ingredient was the cause of the outbreak, but concluded the contamination likely happened before the food reached the restaurant and that it likely wasn't the meat.
Taco Bell released a statement saying it takes food quality and safety very seriously. Pointing out the CDC never found the source of the outbreak and while some people ate at their restaurants and got sick, others who got sick did not.
