Thread: CDC Commercial Declares Outbreak "Over"

I just saw a commercial during the Steelers-Panters game that had an older white gentlemen saying "I am proud to announce that the CDC has declared the e. coli outbreak in 4 northeastern states is now over...... I assure you that Taco Bell food is safe to eat."


hmmmm wonder how much Yum Inc. paid for that spot.

I saw one too during 'America's Deadlest Catch" on Discovery...

I kinda laughed and said that it must have hurt their profit margin pretty hard to spend that kind of money on cable to reassure the public that there food is "safe"!

They can claim till the cows come home that the food is safe and I'll still never eat there!

Hey Dragon,

Was 'panters' a typo or are you trying to say something about
Carolina .

The company press release on the e coli.

http://www.tacobell.com/default.asp?sec=press_releases

History of Taco Bell:

Glen Bell was 23 when he left the Marine Corps. in 1946. World War II was over, and the economy was switching to peacetime pursuits. In five years, business would be booming and fast food along with it.

Glen came home to the sleepy agricultural town of San Bernardino, certain that families would be in the market for the recreational activities that disappeared during the war. He first thought of a miniature golf course, but after facing his financial situation, he went to work on something more the size of his pocketbook, a hot dog stand. Bell's Drive-In was the name of that first stand, and Glen learned the business as he went. His next unit would only be large enough for one person to operate and strictly takeout.

In 1952, he sold the first stand, and began to build a perfected version. The menu would be hamburgers and hot dogs. As he began building his second, the McDonald brothers started their first unit, in a strange stroke of coincidence, also in San Bernardino. Glen became increasingly interested in the idea of alternative menu items. He was an avid Mexican food take-out customer, and as such, was well aware of the hang-ups in ordering tacos to go from a full-service restaurant. "If you wanted a dozen," he recalls, "you were in for a wait. They stuffed them first, quickly fried them and stuck them together with a toothpick. I thought they were delicious, but something had to be done about the method of preparation."

"My plan for experimenting with tacos," he says, "was to obtain a location in a Mexican neighborhood. That way, if tacos were successful, potential competitors would write it off to the location and assume that the idea wouldn't sell anywhere else."

So Glen searched out a good location in the right part of town on a busy main street. He began by selling various hot dogs, including a chili dog. He formulated the chili dog's sauce himself and it would later become our taco sauce. At the same time, he researched tacos. The shells had to be prepared quickly and efficiently. They had to be fried first and stuffed later. He had seen a crude version of a deep-fry basket for tortillas made from stainless steel.

"It was very experimental, but I went ahead and had someone make one for me. We hadn't thought about using wire yet, so we came up with a heavy stainless version which stayed very hot and fried one at a time." The idea for the first commercially fried shells would be picked up by the manufacturers of packaged shells now widely available in markets."

Glen experimented until he was satisfied with the taco ingredients and proportions. The next issue was how to introduce them. "There wasn't room for new items, or to diversify the menus in the little stands we built then, so I decided to sell 19-cent tacos from a little window off to the side," he says. "I'll never forget the first taco customer because naturally, I was really concerned about his reaction. He was dressed in a suit, and as he bit into the taco the juice ran down his sleeve and dripped on his tie. I thought, 'We've lost this one,' but he came back, amazingly enough, and said, 'That was good, I'll take another one!'"

Bank financing for the fledgling fast food industry was still out of the question. So with tacos selling well, and Glen ready to open a second stand in Barstow, it was no coincidence that he added shakes to the menu. A local ice cream manufacturer offered financing in exchange for carrying their product.

Barstow was a ways away and Glen was busy in San Bernardino. So he promised young Ed Hackbarth that he would eventually lease the stand to him if he would move out to Barstow and run it. Ed took over the stand, and later was to build his own as the founder of Del Taco.

With tacos selling so well, it was time to put in a stand completely dedicated to them. Financing was still a roadblock, so Glen took a partner in order to be sure he was in a position to follow through with more stands when the idea took off.

There is a reason that they call it Taco Hell.

I won't eat there and I am encouraging everyone I know and talk to not to eat at any of those places.

It must have hurt their profits.....see what can happen when we don't shop at a particular store. PURCHASING POWER!!! WE COULD USE IT TO OUR GOOD!

They can go broke and close down for all I care. IMO, all they hire are illegals anyway.

JAK wrote:

I won't eat there and I am encouraging everyone I know and talk to not to eat at any of those places.

ME TOO

Even before the e-coli scare, everyone I know says they get 'rumbling' and worse from eating that food. Most people will say they LIKE the taste but hate the aftermath. Why is it that everyone is using Prilosec and antacids, etc. because junk is junk plain and simple.

It does have the right name...that in itself should be a warning.