Federal Tests Find No E. Coli In Green Onions

Maybe the green onions were not the culprit after all.

As the number of confirmed or suspected cases of E. coli infection rose to 400 yesterday, federal officials said that their testing had failed to confirm preliminary findings by Taco Bell that some green onions in its restaurants were contaminated. The chain removed green onions from its restaurants last week.

Theres nothing to implicate green onions right now, said Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer for food safety at the federal Food and Drug Administration. We have not ruled out any food ingredient. We havent ruled any in, and we havent ruled any out, and that includes green onions.

At the same time, the New York State Health Department retracted last weeks announcement that its more sophisticated tests of green onions from a Taco Bell on Long Island had found the virulent strain, E. coli O157:H7, believed to have sickened more than 300 people in New York.

Instead, the agency said, that sample was actually white onions that had been mislabeled, and the strain of E. coli found was not the same as the one that had caused illness.

Health officials in New Jersey also said yesterday that their testing had not found contamination in green onions, though the samples examined had been shipped several days after the outbreak began last month.

Taco Bell issued a statement last night saying that while its initial green onion tests were presumptively positive for E. coli, its further testing, like the Food and Drug Administrations, was negative. Additional testing of more than 300 other samples of food also was negative, the company said.

As a precaution, Taco Bell said it had switched to a new produce supplier for the affected states.

Based on this testing and all that we know today, I can reassure you that all Taco Bell food is safe, and strict standards are being upheld in all of our restaurants, said the companys president, Greg Creed.

Dr. Acheson said in a joint news conference with the officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that both federal agencies would continue their investigation to determine what went wrong and where it wrong.

So far, New York has reported 311 confirmed or suspected cases of E. coli O157:H7, including 233 on Long Island. New Jersey has reported 73 cases, Pennsylvania 11 and Delaware 4. Also, a South Carolina resident who became ill had eaten at a Taco Bell in Pennsylvania.

A suspected case in Utah turned out to be unconnected to this outbreak.

Officials said that although the total number of confirmed cases continued to rise because of belated reports of illnesses, there were no new infections.

So thats good news, said Dr. Christopher Braden of the Centers for Disease Control. But he cautioned, Were not ready to say its absolutely over.

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