CARROLLTON, Texas -- McLane Foodservice Inc., the distributor to the Taco Bell restaurants reportedly linked to the current E. coli outbreak in several northeastern states, has announced that a site investigation by the New Jersey Department of Health & Environmental Services (NJDHES) has found no evidence of improper storage or handling practices by McLane.
NJDHES's inspection, conducted last week at the McLane distribution center in Burlington Township, N.J., included a review of the sanitation, product handling and employee health and training [image-nocss] practices regularly employed by McLane during the entire period the contaminated products reportedly were received and distributed. McLane said it observes these same practices and procedures uniformly at each of the 17 other distribution centers comprising its nationwide distribution network.
According to a written statement issued by NJDHES, its inspection of McLane did not indicate any problems with the firm's food safety operations. NJDHES also announced that all 15 product samples taken from McLane in NJDHES's initial investigative visit last week have tested preliminarily negative.
We are extremely pleased the State of New Jersey's investigation appears to have confirmed what we at McLane already believed, namely, that any contamination in all likelihood occurred at a source other than McLane, said Tom Zatina, president of McLane Foodservice, Carrollton, Texas. Because all green onion products arrive to us in sealed cellophane bags inside sealed corrugated boxes, we have felt from the beginning it was highly improbable that McLane caused or contributed to any E. coli contamination.
He added, Particularly on behalf of the more than 170 McLane teammates in Burlington Township, we are grateful to NJDHES and the State of New Jersey for its prompt and responsible attention to our situation. Their actions proved critical in avoiding a potential unnecessary shutdown and in enabling our uninterrupted performance of the high-quality services that have come to be associated with the McLane name. At this time, our thoughts continue to be with the individuals who have been stricken with illness. We remain hopeful the final results of the ongoing investigation will yield some solution that would prevent these kinds of harms from ever happening again.
McLane Foodservice, a wholly owned subsidiary of McLane Co. Inc., a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., provides distribution services throughout the United States, delivering food and nonfood products to more than 20,000 restaurants across the country. It operates 18 distribution centers nationwide, and it is the nation's largest wholesale distributor of food and consumer packaged goods to the convenience, mass merchandise and drug store channels.
Click here to view the Center for Disease Control & Prevention's (CDC) update on the current East Coast E. coli outbreak.
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