Taco Bell Stores to Reopen After Scare

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Taco Bell expects to reopen restaurants on Tuesday that were closed after an E. coli strain sickened nearly three dozen people in New Jersey and New York’s Long Island, an executive for the chain’s parent company said.

“We expect all Taco Bell restaurants to be back in operation today,” Tim Jerzyk, a vice president at Yum Brands Inc. told the company’s annual investor conference in New York.

He said the company has worked “around the clock” with health officials and “there is no immediate threat to consumers today.”

“We’re obviously very concerned to the effect of consumers, and will continue to work closely with health officials to get to the root cause,” he said.

State medical officials in New Jersey and New York were working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to try to pinpoint what caused the outbreak that sickened at least 22 people in New Jersey – two of them seriously – and more than a dozen on Long Island.

Apparently those who got sick had eaten at Taco Bell restaurants.

Yum Brands shares fell 58 cents to $61.05 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.