Food safety apology I: Texas health type says sorry to family

The parents of an 18-month-old and a 4-year-old who were sickened by E. coli from a local restaurant weren’t happy with a Brazos County Health wilke.taco.e.coli.may.13Department news conference on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the doctor who ate a taco from the restaurant from which the bacteria was traced, issued an apology.

Dr. Eric Wilke told News 3, “I did have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Melton yesterday and offered my heartfelt apology that I offended him and his family. I would never want to lessen the gravity of what they experienced. Mr. Melton was very gracious and I appreciate his willingness to speak to me. If my comments and actions gave anyone the impression, other than what we felt in terms of concern, then I would like to offer my apology to them and ask for their forgiveness.”

Dr. Wilke says eating the taco at the news conference on Tuesday was simply an attempt to quell some of the public concern about food safety.

It was a dumb attempt.

Another unplucked gem: Texas health type says E. coli outbreak was a fluke

In addition to offending parents and public health types by a taco-eating endorsement of a restaurant faulted for landing two kids in hospital for a month, Dr. Eric Wilke, of the Brazos County Health Department in Texas also said yesterday the outbreak was a “fluke.”

I bet the parents of those kids don’t feel that way.

And how do the cooks at Coco Loco verify the ground beef has reached 165F? Some kind of temperature-measuring device?