BIG NUMBER
31%. That’s how much foot traffic to Taco Bell plummeted on July 17, the first Friday after the chain was linked to the outbreak, per Placer.ai. The broader fast-food category posted only a 1.9% traffic decline that same day, meaning Taco Bell’s drop was approximately 16 times worse than its peers.
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Key background
Thousands of people had been sickened by cyclosporiasis, caused by the cyclospora bacteria, before the Food and Drug Administration linked the outbreak to iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell. More than 1,600 of the estimated 7,000 sick people at the time—mid-July—reported eating at Taco Bell restaurants in five states. The restaurants had already stopped serving the tainted lettuce by the time the link was identified, and Taylor Farms later recalled products in 27 states. While the Taco Bell common thread is undeniable, the FDA says, it doesn’t explain all of the cyclosporiasis cases—now roughly 11,500—nationwide. To date, none of the produce the FDA has tested has produced a positive sample result for cyclospora and investigators are still working to trace what other produce may be making people sick.
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SURPRISING FACT
Yum! Brands warned investors that cyclospora was a material business risk long before the active outbreak. The company listed the parasite alongside E. coli, listeria, salmonella and trichinosis as a prominent risk factor in its most recent SEC annual filing and named it as the No. 1 threat—ahead of every other business problem it predicted.
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further reading
ForbesMichigan Passes 10,000 Cyclosporiasis Cases—And Experts Still Don’t Have A Definitive CauseBy Mary Whitfill RoeloffsForbesTaco Bell Lettuce Linked To Multistate Cyclosporiasis Outbreak—But Not Every Sick Person Ate ThereBy Mary Whitfill Roeloffs