| ■ Lettuce May Have Caused E. Coli Outbreak at Taco John's | 07.01.15 |
| Contaminated lettuce from California may have caused the E. coli outbreak late last year that left about 80 people sick after they ate at two Taco John's restaurants in Minnesota and Iowa, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday. Of the 81 people who became ill, 26 were hospitalized. No one died in the outbreak. Government investigators said the strain of bacteria in the Taco John's outbreak matched that found in samples taken from dairy farms in California's Central Valley. The FDA said the dairy farms are located near lettuce fields, the Associated Press reported. Investigators are still trying to determine whether manure from the dairy farms could have contaminated the neighboring lettuce fields, said the FDA, which added that it's possible that other sources of contamination caused the Taco John's outbreak. This is the second time in recent months that California cattle or dairy farms have been investigated as sources of E. coli contamination in produce. In September, an outbreak that killed three and sickened nearly 200 people in 26 states and Canada was traced to contaminated spinach grown in California. ----- Yahoo Healthday |