In a refreshing change for Canadian public health, a report has actually been issued regarding an outbreak of foodborne illness – specifically the 235 people who got sick dining at a Harvery’s restaurant at a major thoroughfare in North Bay, Ontario, last fall, four hours north of Toronto.

Apparently it was the Spanish onions.

The North Bay and District Health Unit also criticized the inconsistent cleaning practice of the onion dicer (below, left, exactly as shown).

The full report is available at http://www.healthunit.biz/docs/Ecoli%20Outbreak/2008%20NBPSDHU%20Ecoli%20Report_June%202009_Formatted.pdf

Some questions: where did the onions come from? Health types say they don’t know. How could a Harvey’s not know where its onions were coming from? Or at least provide a list of options? There were also outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 in southern Ontario at the same time. Same onions?

The gelato caper gripping Australia had several twists and a couple of great soundbites Tuesday morning (Australia time).

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that security camera footage of an incident in which staff at the Coogee Bay Hotel allegedly served a family a cup of gelato laced with human faeces shows the dessert being delivered to the family by the restaurant's manager. …

"She was concerned about the family's experience and she had the idea of offering a complimentary dessert to try and make some amends," said the hotel's general manager, Tony Williams.

Meanwhile, the family's lawyer, Steven Lewis, of Slater & Gordon, also rubbished newspaper reports the family had links to a rival pub as a "Kevin Bacon … six degrees of separation [defence]. My question is: 'Did Kevin Bacon put the faeces in the ice-cream?"'.

Stephen and Jessica Whyte, along with their three young children and another family, were at the hotel to watch the NRL grand final, but after a series of complaints became suspicious when they were given a free bowl of gelato. "The real issue is that we were fed, as a family, shit, at someone's pub," Mr Whyte told 2UE.

Yesterday the NSW Food Authority announced it was investigating, and the hotel's management confirmed it had contacted Maroubra police in preparation for possible criminal charges against anyone who might have tampered with food at the hotel.

Meanwhile, the head chef at the Coogee Bay Hotel, Adam Wood, who had tendered his resignation before the incident and had continued to work at the hotel for several weeks afterwards, offered to put himself up for DNA testing.

Mr Wood's arrival was trumpeted by the hotel's general manager, Tony Williams, in a media statement about the hotel's revamped beer garden this month.

"Executive Chef Adam Wood [was] poached from Japan where he headed up kitchens for the Swissotel, Osaka and Foreign Correspondent's Press Club of Japan in Tokyo and brings extensive five star international and three hat experience with him," the statement read.

Why he resigned only weeks after being heralded as the hotel's most senior chef remains unclear.

Harvey's Canada president Rick McNabb said Tuesday at a North Bay, Ontario, hotel that he’s sorry for the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that has now stricken 190 people, of which 36 are laboratory confirmed.

". . . On behalf of our company, I just want to say how sorry we are that something happened here, despite the fact that we don't know what it is, but it's clear we were associated with it."

McNabb said the local franchise operator, Cindy Gibb, is distraught and this is overwhelming for her.

I speak to her daily," he said. She's hurt, sorry and scared. The best-case scenario for everyone is to find the source."
 

Steve Carleton dubbed himself "Number 6" because when he was overcome with fierce stomach cramps last week and admitted to a northern Ontario hospital, health-care workers started numbering the beds.

While he jokes now that he "beat the rush," the 22-year-old North Bay police constable turns serious when recalling his bout with E. coli during an outbreak that, as of Sunday, may have sickened upwards of 159 people, mostly in his home town.

"It was like I had razor blades rolling around in my stomach, it was so excruciating," Carleton said.

"The pains were enough (that) you couldn't stay in bed or sit down, because you'd sit down and it'd hit you again and you'd be up and it'd give you that urge and you'd have to run to the washroom again."

Carleton spent four, IV-drip-fuelled days recovering in hospital. He said he had earlier eaten a bacon cheeseburger at one of the busiest Harvey's restaurants in the area.

"I consider myself pretty fit, and a healthy all around person," said Carleton, who exercises several times a week. "I couldn't imagine an elderly person, or even a young child, being able to fight their way through it."