A lawsuit has been filed against Taco Bell's parent company, Yum! Brands, over a recent outbreak of salmonella. Georgetown, Ky. resident Joe Anne Smith filed the lawsuit Friday.
According to Food Safety News, since mid-April, at least 155 Taco Bell customers in 21 states have become infected with Salmonella Hartford or Salmonella Baildon. Smith is one of 28 consumers from Kentucky who experienced the outbreak.
Smith purchased two tacos from a Frankfort, Ky. Taco Bell and became ill two days later. Her symptoms then worsened for several subsequent days. She was eventually taken to an emergency room and diagnosed with Salmonella Hartford.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Aug. 5 that food served at Taco Bell restaurants was the source of Salmonella Hartford and Baildon outbreaks.
Thus far, more than 150 people in 21 states have been confirmed with having the strain.
According to the Food Poison Journal, this is the third outbreak in 10 years traced back to Taco Bell ingredients. The first was a Hepatitis A outbreak in 2000 linked to green onions at Nevada and Kentucky Taco Bell locations.
In 2006, lettuce used by Taco Bell restaurants in the Northeast was determined to be the cause of an E. coli outbreak.
