Taco Bell leadership’s scramble to contain this summer’s “explosive diarrhea” cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to lettuce sold at their restaurants and to save the Mexican food brand has been described in a new report.
Last week, Taco Bell announced that it was immediately removing lettuce “potentially impacted” by a parasite that has caused thousands of Americans to fall ill.
The July 16 announcement came as public health officials said they were investigating the outbreak linked to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. Taylor Farms has also been under the microscope as Taco Bell’s lettuce supplier.
Days earlier, health officials notified Taco Bell that lettuce from Taylor Farms was a suspected source of the outbreak, leading company executives to work with franchisees to hastily pull potentially affected produce from restaurants, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Many Taco Bell executives were at an off-site company event on July 14 when they got the news about Taylor Farms lettuce, according to the Journal, which cited current and former Taco Bell officials and people familiar with its operations in the reporting.
In the days that followed, the chain’s leadership worked out of its headquarters in Irvine, California, and hosted virtual meetings to divert supply trucks and get workers on the ground to throw out cases of lettuce.
The Independent has reached out to Taco Bell for comment.
There have been more than 4,100 confirmed cases and more than 7,400 unconfirmed cases of cyclosporiasis since the start of May, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Food and Drug Administration reported on July 16 that more than 1,600 people infected with cyclosporiasis had eaten at Taco Bell.
Taylor Farms announced Friday that it was removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico.
Public health officials then reported Saturday that a sample of lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms tested positive for cyclosporiasis. But officials later said it was a “false positive.”
Foot traffic at Taco Bell restaurants was down 30.9 percent on July 17 compared with this year’s average for Fridays, according to Placer.ai data shared with The Independent.
Taco Bell’s strategy has been to zero in on the Crunchwrap Supreme and Beefy 5-Layer Burrito loyalists.
In an Instagram post last week, the chain announced that customers could “go ahead and enjoy your Taco Bell today” after it removed all affected Taylor Farms lettuce.
“You always got us. We always got you. See you in the drive-thru,” the post continued.
In a follow-up post Wednesday, Taco Bell shared a collage of fan comments, including ones that read, “Taco Bell forever” and “I’m never leaving you.”
Roughly half of online discussions about Taco Bell this week are negative, and the rest are neutral or positive, the Journal reported, citing data from analytics company PeakMetrics.
The FDA has warned against eating lettuce from Taco Bell or any other restaurant that has been recalled by Taylor Farms.