Fast food bacteria scare
Jamba Juice and Taco Bell stores take precautions against possible contaminated food shipments
Two campus eateries have responded this week to nationwide concerns regarding bacteria-contaminated food.
Jamba Juice stores in Westwood and Ackerman Union may have received shipments of contaminated strawberries, the smoothie company announced Tuesday.
And Taco Bell said Wednesday it had stopped using green onions in all of its approximately 5,800 stores after at least 42 people in three states became ill from eating scallions infected with E. coli bacteria.
Frozen strawberries shipped from one of Jamba Juice’s suppliers, Cleugh’s Frozen Foods Inc. of Salinas, tested positive for the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, according to a statement released by Jamba Juice CEO Paul Clayton.
The bacteria can cause potentially deadly infections, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, especially in young children and elderly people.
People who eat the bacteria-contaminated food may suffer flu-like symptoms including fever, abdominal pain, headaches and nausea.
Kara Burke, a spokeswoman for Jamba Juice, said the risk of infection only applies to people who consumed strawberry smoothies between Nov. 25 and Dec. 1. Since then, Jamba Juice has recalled all strawberry shipments from the affected supplier.
She added that while a number of stores in Southern California are listed as potentially affected, that does not necessarily mean that any contaminated strawberries were ever used at those locations.
“It just means that it’s possible that some contaminated strawberries reached that location,” she said.
Clayton said in his statement that most boxes of strawberries from that supplier were recalled before they were ever unpacked.
Several stores in West Los Angeles are listed on the company’s Web site as potentially affected, including the Jamba Juice in Ackerman Union and the one located on Lindbrook Avenue in Westwood Village. Contaminated strawberries may also have reached stores throughout Southern California, Arizona and Nevada.
Jamba Juice has stopped shipments from the supplier in question, and thoroughly sanitized all affected stores, Clayton said in his statement.
Burke said despite the shipping interruption, no Jamba Juice stores have altered their menus, and they will continue offering strawberry smoothies made with fruit from other suppliers.
Still, she said the company is advising concerned customers to monitor their health.
“If they start experiencing flu-like symptoms, we recommend they get a blood test, and Jamba will pay for that,” she said.
So far there have been no confirmed reports of illness resulting from contaminated smoothies.
While Taco Bell has confirmed over 40 cases of illness related to infected green onions, all known cases have been linked to restaurants on the East Coast.
Preliminary testing by an independent lab found that three samples of green onions appeared to have a dangerous strain of the bacterium.
“In an abundance of caution, we’ve decided to pull all green onions from our restaurants until we know conclusively whether they are the cause of the E. coli outbreak,” said Greg Creed, president of Irvine-based Taco Bell.
Taco Bell has not yet identified the supplier responsible for the contaminated scallions.
A statement posted on the company’s Web site encouraged concerned customers to call an information number Taco Bell has established.
Eisen Yoon, a third-year English student, said while he did not think he had consumed any strawberry smoothies from Jamba Juice recently, the news of a possible contamination was disturbing.
“It makes me a little concerned,” he said. “I guess it could happen again.”
But he also said the risk probably would not prompt him to change his purchasing habits.
With reports from Bruin wire services.

