E. Coli Outbreak Widens in Minnesota
Pastor Dale Morgan
E. Coli Outbreak Widens in Minnesota*
Dec 12 10:02 PM US/Eastern
By PATRICK CONDON
Associated Press Writer
A suspected E. coli outbreak that began in Iowa widened in Minnesota on
Tuesday, with health officials linking 14 apparent cases to Taco John's
restaurants in Albert Lea and Austin.
A spokesman for the Wyoming-based chain confirmed that the two southern
Minnesota restaurants get their produce from the same supplier as the
Taco John's in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where nearly three dozen people
developed E. coli symptoms earlier this week after dining there.
Those infected all ate at the three restaurants in roughly the same time
period, the last few days of November and the first few days of
December, said Kirk Smith, supervisor of the Minnesota Department of
Health's foodborne disease unit.
Half of the 14 Minnesota victims ate at the Albert Lea restaurant, the
other half in Austin, Smith said. He said he wouldn't be surprised to
see at least a few more cases crop up in the next day or two.
Taco John's spokesman Brian Dixon identified the produce supplier for
the three restaurants as St. Paul-based Bix Produce. But he stressed
that the restaurant chain doesn't yet know if the produce was the source
of the E. coli. The disease can also be carried by undercooked meat, and
Dixon said the chain is testing samples of all types of food from the
restaurants in question.
"We're still trying to pinpoint exactly what happened," Dixon said. The
company may decide to switch suppliers, he said.
Bix Produce Chief Operating Officer Duane Pfleiger stressed that produce
has not been implicated in the illnesses and that the investigation is
ongoing.
"There is no conclusive evidence pointing toward produce or any other
item that might be the cause of this," he said, adding that Bix Produce
has a strong safety record.
E. coli is a common, usually harmless bacteria, but certain strains can
cause abdominal cramps, fever, bloody diarrhea, kidney failure,
blindness, paralysis, even death.
It is found in the feces of humans and livestock. The germs can be
spread by people if they do not thoroughly wash their hands after using
the restroom.
Five of the Minnesota cases have been confirmed as E. coli at local
hospitals, Smith said, but the Department of Health plans to make its
own confirmation in each case. He said DNA testing will also be used to
independently confirm that the Minnesota and Iowa contaminations came
from the same source.
One of the Minnesota victims has developed kidney complications and has
been hospitalized, Smith said.
In the Iowa cases, preliminary test results showed that E. coli was the
likely culprit for symptoms that sickened about 40 people and sent 18
people to the hospital in late November and early December.
The restaurants in Albert Lea and Austin have remained open. Both sites
threw out their entire food supplies, and Dixon said both are entirely
replacing their produce stock every four hours. He said the company has
also sent in a trainer to check on restaurant conditions.
The company also said it has taken steps to sanitize equipment at the
restaurants in question.
Dixon said employees company-wide are being reminded of the company's
"well-defined safety standards" including cooking temperatures, hand-
washing and other personal health requirements.
"We're taking every possible aggressive posture we can," Dixon said.
"It's sickening for us to see anybody in the public suffer in this way,
especially if they got ill from eating at Taco John's."
Just a handful of people were eating at a Taco John's in St. Paul during
the lunch hour Tuesday. Gary Hanson, a Taco John's regular in town on
business, made a cross with his index fingers and pointed inside the
restaurant when asked about the E. coli outbreak.
"That's why nobody's here," he joked. But he said he wasn't too worried,
as he dug into his chicken fajitas.
"They're probably more cautious than they ever were," he said.
Federal health officials say there's still no indication that the
outbreak in Minnesota and Iowa is connected to an outbreak in the
Northeast that sickened 64 people who ate at Taco Bell restaurants, but
they haven't ruled out a link. Scallions were initially identified as
the likely source of that outbreak, but federal testing of samples
turned up negative for E. coli.
The two taco chains are not affiliated with each other.
___
Associated Press writer Archie Ingersoll contributed to this story.