Word: coli
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Taco Bell's attempt at damage control needs damage control. The fast-food chain has responded poorly to this week's E. coli outbreak, experts say, and its bad public relations could hamper Taco Bell's efforts to reassure its customers...
...Since Nov. 20 at least 60 cases of E. coli infections have been reported across six states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most of them linked to Taco Bell restaurants. Forty-eight of those people have been hospitalized, seven with potentially fatal kidney failure, and more cases are likely to be reported. The New York Times reported on Friday that there are at least 169 confirmed E. coli cases, most of them centered on Long Island and in New Jersey. The cause of the outbreak remains unknown, although green onions from Taco Bell restaurants...
...This week, the chain temporarily closed at least 60 stores in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware for cleaning and restocking of all food. Most of the stores were reopened within a day. Taco Bell also launched its own investigation into the E. coli's source, and its private laboratory found E. coli present in some samples of green onions. On Wednesday, Taco Bell removed green onions from all 5,800 of its restaurants...
...Creed should have held a news conference or made himself immediately available to reporters, says Jonathan Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management, a California-based consulting group. But the president has yet to do so, even as new cases of E. coli are reported. "Taco Bell is hiding behind the written word," Bernstein says. "The moment there is a threat to health or safety, that mandates the involvement and personal presence of the company's president. This action communicates to the public that the company cares and it ensures stakeholders that the company is doing the right thing...
...Wendy's finger episode turned out to have been a hoax. Taco Bell faces a more challenging public-relations task, since the E. coli outbreak could raise health concerns about the chain that will far outlast the specific threat...