Taco Bell

Taco Bell

Basic information
Founded	21 Mar 1962
Legal Structure	Public subsidiary
Industry	Food
Also known as
Official website	https://www.tacobell.com/about-us

Taco Bell IP Holder, LLC, founded by Glen Bell in March 21, 1962, is an American fast food restaurant serving primary Mexican styled foods.

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Taco Bell category.

In November 1999, several children were diagnosed with a strain of E. coli after consumption of Taco Bell's Beef Tacos, hospitalizing four children.^[1]

In 2006, 71 customers in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware became infected with E. coli, resulting in most customers being hospitalized or suffering kidney failure. Taco Bell conducted an investigation on its green onions, finding after three samples that all tested positive for bacteria. Taco Bell responded by pulling green onions from their menus at all locations and shut down several restaurants for sanitizing. A week later, Taco bell discovered that the true cause was with their lettuce, resulting in a change of supplier. This incident cost Taco Bell $20 million.^[2]

Customers reported of salmonella tied to Taco bell in April leading up to August affecting 155 customers, hospitalizing eleven.^[1] This resulted in an investigation from several departments of the United States government, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety,^[3] however the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on 4 August 2010 that no indicators of the cause were found.^[4]

As a result of this incident, several customers filed lawsuits against parent company Yum! Brands.^[5][6]

68 customers across ten states (Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, and Tennessee) had gotten sick with salmonella, however no deaths were reported.^[7] This incident resulted in a lawsuit filed by an Oklahoma woman against Taco Bell for allegedly causing her to become very ill. The case was settled, however specific agreements are unknown.^[8]

Stated in Late December 2012 till January 2013, Taco Bell lettuce was infected with E.Coli, affecting 30 customers in Canada. In response, Taco Bell issued an recall of all its lettuce, conducting an investigation that determined the infected lettuce came originally from California, and was distributed by FreshPoint.^[2]

In 2019, three customers found metal shavings in their food. The customers notified Taco Bell which, in response, notified the U.S. Department of Agriculture, resulting in a recall and disposal of 2.3 million pounds of beef on 11 October 2019. ^[2][9] No customers were affected.

Taco Bell North American president Julie Masino, responded to the situation:^[10]

Nothing is more important than our customers’ safety, and nothing means more to us than their trust. As soon as we received the first consumer complaint, we immediately acted to remove the product from the affected restaurants and proactively worked with the supplier to inform the USDA of our steps to protect our guests.

The California Department of Consumer Affairs issued Taco Bell a fine of $85,000 in 2019 over violating the California Civil Code section 1749.5 by refusing to redeem gift cards with values less than $10.^[11][12]

On 31 July 2023, New York resident Frank Siragusa filed a class action lawsuit against Taco Bell for falsely advertising the amount of ingredients used in their products, arguing that Taco Bell's Crunchwrap and Mexican Pizza variants contain less than half the amount of beef showcased in advertising.^[13][14][15]

The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed, with prejudice, by the plaintiff on 13 November 2023.^[16]

• 
  Taco Bell Crunchwrap advertising
• 
  Plaintiff's Chrunchwrap product

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