‘I feel like it’s my responsibility, but I don’t feel like I’m to blame’ 6 sick with E. coli in Seatlle: Was it cilantro?

A local food vendor whose tacos may have put a 4-year-old girl in the hospital with E. coli has apologized.

e.coli.foodtruck.seattleHealth officials are now investigating six cases of E. coli in King County.

All little Elizabeth Buder knows is that she’s in the hospital with a painful tummy ache, but the 4-year-old’s parents know the strain of E. coli she has can be deadly.

“There’s not just IV tubes in her arms, but in her neck,” said Elizabeth’s dad, James Buder. “How do you explain that to a 4-year old?”

Health officials believe Scout, as she likes to be called, contracted E. coli after eating steak tacos with pico de gallo at the Issaquah Farmers Market on August 8th. She ate at a food stand run by Los Chilangos food truck catering.

The owner, Noemi Mendez, is cooperating with the investigation.

“I feel horrible,” she said. “And I apologize. I feel like, you know, it’s my responsibility, but also I don’t feel like I’m to blame here.”

Mendez said the Heath Department told her E. coli may have come from cilantro, which she uses in all her food and gets from several different suppliers.

“They can’t be certain, because now they have to go through every suppler that I get the cilantro from and find out what happened there,” Mendez said.

Or should have been done prior to the outbreak.

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About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time