taco bell was restaurant chain a, getting confirmation from taco bell itself. hiding the ball, you know, you always get caught. reporter: the same thing happened two years ago in another salmonella outbreak at taco bell, when it again was revealed to be the mysterious restaurant chain a. the focus and the attention that s been paid on this is making the regulators look bad. it s making the restaurant chain look bad. reporter: abc news found that in dozens of cases fda and cdc policy has been to keep the names secret in closed investigations. when there s no longer a hazard to public health, it s perfectly reasonable to protect the sources because you ensure further cooperation going into the future. reporter: but barbara pruitt of oregon says that is nonsense. she almost died from a case of salmonella three years ago. i don t feel that i should have to be jeopardized because
the salmonella investigation traced to taco bell. government officials knew the name of the restaurant when they were investigating the outbreak but refused to release it. now consumer advocates demand to know why. here s abc s chief investigative correspondent, brian ross. reporter: for the last three months federal health agencies have tried to keep secret an outbreak of salmonella at taco bell restaurants involving a supplier for one of its taco ingredients. 68 people in ten states became ill, and at least 20 of them were hospitalized. salmonella outbreak is always serious. absolutely. more people die in the united states of salmonella poisoning than of e. coli poisoning. reporter: yet in its public announcements about the salmonella outbreak the food and drug administration, the fda, and the centers for disease control, the cdc, referred only to a restaurant chain a, serving mexican-style food, trying to keep the public from knowing it was taco bell. i have a right to k