Tasty Bake Inc. laid off a large number of employees on Friday, and most of them worked at the Eighth Street plant in Baker City.

Tasty Bake President Peter Johnson, of Boise, said in a prepared statement the reduction in workforce was related to the local cryptosporidium outbreak. The waterborne infection caused a significant loss of clientele.

He didn’t say how many workers were let go. Estimates from around the community range from a dozen to 30 workers laid off.

“Tasty Bake has suffered a great loss of business and the catalyst of the loss was the cryptosporidium in the Baker City water supply. This will result in an unfortunate layoff for a large portion of the Tasty Bake production staff and some associates in other cities.”

The business is best known for creating partially baked pizza crusts that can be topped and oven-finished. It also creates other forms of dough — such as balls and hand-stretched forms — for a variety of uses.

The website findthecompany .com states that there were 36 workers at that location.

The meeting between Tasty Bake management and employees occurred on Friday morning. Personnel with OED also attended. They were informed of Johnson’s intentions on Thursday afternoon, said Ed Susman, regional manager of the OED, based in Ontario.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Susman said. “These are good jobs.”

He didn’t say how many people lost their positions at Tasty Bake or whether there were severance packages provided to any of these workers.

Tasty Bake had been advertising in the Baker City Herald for new workers as recently as Aug.14. The blind ad sought potential workers who could stand “for long periods of time.”

The OED was there to assist the newly displaced workers by letting them know what would be available to them as they begin to look for new jobs and attempt to stay financially afloat until that goal is attained.

The municipal water supply appears to be nearly crypto-free but additional test results that could show that the parasite has passed through are expected midweek, according to city officials.