# Think outside the Bun! Taco Hell poisons Customers in NJ! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 4, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823 "2006-12-04T17:02:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/61 "2006-12-06T21:51:31Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] First we had spinich, then lettuce an now [green onions](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/06/nyregion/07colicnd.html?hp&ex=1165467600&en=79f95e030b4e3441&ei=5094&partner=homepage) as a possible e coli source. [/QUOTE] They had a problem with green onions before, which is why I can no longer purchase them loose around here. They’re all pre-washed and bagged. My girlfriend worked as a migrant fieldhand for a season or so. She said it’s standard practice for the workers to do their business in the fields because the owners don’t always provide accessible facilities and _time is money!_ I was rather casual about my vegetable washing until I heard that. ---
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/62 "2006-12-06T22:07:54Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Wow, **Mayo Speaks!** I applaud you. That was a great little two part rant. I’ll will give it a 10 out of 10. I hope I never piss you off. Jim [/QUOTE] I hope so, too. For your own sake. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/63 "2006-12-06T22:35:05Z")
Maybe it has nothing to do with our procedures and safe guards, which have been adequate up till now. Maybe the\* e. coli \* are getting “smarter”. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/64 "2006-12-06T22:43:21Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] Then quit smoking them. I’m not sure what your point is. NYT reports progress on efforts to trace the source of the outbreak. That news is plausable, has precedence and appears to attempt to avoid earlier, possibly erronous finger pointing by identifying a positively tainted batch. [/QUOTE] it was just a joke. An old Chevy Chase line from SNL. Sorry for any confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/65 "2006-12-06T22:51:14Z")
[QUOTE=wolfman] I was simply asking if Taco Bell tacos actually cost 99 cents other places cause they don’t here. [/QUOTE] I ate at Taco Bell last night and they were eighty-nine cents here in the Chattanooga, TN area. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/66 "2006-12-06T22:54:31Z")
Dang… and I thought I was good at quotes. 🙂 It’s such a great line it had me thinking “Okay, vat did I miss?” My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Daffyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daffyd/32/8923_2.png) [@Daffyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daffyd)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/67 "2006-12-07T03:19:44Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] Oh, and considering that a visit to the hospital emergency room can cost \> $10,000, taco hell food is pretty expensive :mad: [/QUOTE] Thank God we have socialized medicine in Canada… I can eat all the Taco Bell tacos I want without worrying about having to break the bank. I’m gonna roll the dice and find me some 99 cent tacos! (plus GST) ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/68 "2006-12-07T03:45:56Z")
Gawrsh, I hope **ralphie** will come back in here and tell us how much we should pay for our green onions so we’re not, you know, ‘asking for it’. I wonder…considering his problems with the “shift” key, do you think his nick is supposed to be **ralph!@$c**? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/69 "2006-12-07T04:01:46Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] Gawrsh, I hope **ralphie** will come back in here and tell us how much we should pay for our green onions so we’re not, you know, ‘asking for it’. I wonder…considering his problems with the “shift” key, do you think his nick is supposed to be **ralph!@$c**? -Joe [/QUOTE] well, he’s no \*\* ralph 14\*\*, that’s all I’m sayin’ ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/70 "2006-12-07T04:52:25Z")
A friend of mine used to refer to TB bean burritos as _“gut bombs”_. Que apropos!(huh?) Did I get the parenthesis right? ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/71 "2006-12-07T05:39:58Z")
There was a story on news tonight that TB was pulling green onions off of all of their food nationwide due to the potential of it being contaminated by E-Coli. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/72 "2006-12-07T13:50:03Z")
[QUOTE=blondebear] A friend of mine used to refer to TB bean burritos as _“gut bombs”_. Que apropos!(huh?) Did I get the parenthesis right? [/QUOTE] Congratuations. I used to eat at Taco Bell a lot, and I still manage it twice a month or so. Every time I get a little stomach unpleasantness. I accept that as part of eating cheap. E-Coli? Not so much. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/73 "2006-12-07T17:04:13Z")
I’m pretty sure you have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than you do of getting Ecoli poisoning from Taco Bell. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/74 "2006-12-07T18:45:41Z")
[QUOTE=SHAKES] I’m pretty sure you have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than you do of getting Ecoli poisoning from Taco Bell. [/QUOTE] But…by buying a $.99 taco I was just **begging** for it. I mean, I was practically spread-eagled on a table with a arrow pointed toward my mouth labeled, “Insert EColi here”. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/75 "2006-12-07T23:05:47Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] I was practically spread-eagled on a table with a arrow pointed toward my mouth labeled, “Insert EColi here”. [/QUOTE] And an arrow pointed at your anus: “Exit e-coli here, at high velocity.” ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/76 "2006-12-07T23:55:16Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] They had a problem with green onions before, which is why I can no longer purchase them loose around here. They’re all pre-washed and bagged. [/QUOTE] Okay, color me stupid, but what difference does it make if they’re pre-washed and bagged? The recent e.coli outbreak in spinach involved pre-washed and bagged salad… ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/77 "2006-12-08T14:01:02Z")
Interesting news: From the [New York Times:](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/nyregion/08coli.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) (registration required) “As the list of those sickened by a dangerous strain of E. coli called 0157:H7 grew, the focus of the investigation turned to Boskovich Farms in Oxnard, Calif., which grows the green onions, also known as scallions, for the supplier of Taco Bell.” A little later on in the same article: “Boskovich, which began growing green onions on its farms 40 years ago, provided the green onions that led to a hepatitis outbreak that began at a Chi-Chi’s restaurant in Pennsylvania in 2003.” ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/78 "2006-12-08T14:34:47Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] And an arrow pointed at your anus: “Exit e-coli here, at high velocity.” [/QUOTE] When did you get a look at my tattoos? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823/79 "2006-12-08T16:26:59Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] And an arrow pointed at your anus: “Exit e-coli here, at high velocity.” [/QUOTE] If we want to remain fair in our probability assessments, we’re going to need to insert a large lightning rod in that anus as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-outside-the-bun-taco-hell-poisons-customers-in-nj/382823.md?page=3)