BestWeek: Cover Helps Food-Service Businesses Such as Taco Bell Cleanse Tainted Reputations.OLDWICK, N.J. -- The E. coli E. coli: see Escherichia coli. E. coli in full Escherichia coli Species of bacterium that inhabits the stomach and intestines. E. coli can be transmitted by water, milk, food, or flies and other insects. outbreak linked to Taco Bell Taco Bell Corp., a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., is a Mexican-style quick service restaurant chain based in Irvine, California, United States. The restaurant has locations primarily in the United States and Canada, but also operates outlets in several other markets. restaurants has left more than four dozen people sick in at least three states, creating a major damage-control crisis for the fast-food chain, according to an article in the Dec. 11 issue of BestWeek. As with many restaurants or food service providers that have been linked to food-borne illnesses in the past, the costliest aspect of this crisis is not Taco Bell's removal of potentially-tainted green onions from its 5,800 restaurants nationwide, or the temporary closure of 18 stores, or expenses related to decontamination decontamination /de·con·tam·i·na·tion/ (de?kon-tam-i-na´shun) the freeing of a person or object of some contaminating substance, e.g., war gas, radioactive material, etc. de·con·tam·i·na·tion n. and cleanup of restaurants; it is the long-term damage to the company's trade name. However, only a few insurers offer insurance protection for this common and costly risk, experts say. Also in BestWeek, Best's Global Insurance Composite Index Composite Index A grouping of equities, indexes or other factors combined in a standardized way, providing a useful statistical measure of overall market or sector performance over time. Also known simply as a "composite". finished the week of Dec. 7, 2006, up 5.74% from a year ago. The composite index reflects the performance of 186 insurance stocks. The week's top performers were Direct General Corp.; Citizens Financial Corp.; Korean Reinsurance The contract made between an insurance company and a third party to protect the insurance company from losses. The contract provides for the third party to pay for the loss sustained by the insurance company when the company makes a payment on the original contract. Co. Ltd.; Prudential Financial Inc.; and Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc. The bottom five were Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co. Ltd.; Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd.; Scottish Re Group Ltd.; Specialty Underwriters' Alliance Inc.; and LIG lig Brit slang Noun (esp. in the media) a function with free entertainment and refreshments Verb [ligging, ligged] to attend such a function ligger Insurance Co. Ltd. BestWeek is published by A.M. Best Co. for insurance professionals. To subscribe to BestWeek, please call A.M. Best's customer service department at (908) 439-2200, ext. 5742, or e-mail your request to customer_service@ambest.com. A.M. Best Co., established in 1899, is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit A.M. Best's Web site at www.ambest.com. |
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