Last May, it was reported that 195 of the 580 people served Easter Brunch at Luciano's Cotton Club in Worcester, Mass. were struck by norovirus contracted from a sick employee, and the incident was chronicled on Yelp and a food safety site called barfblog.com.

“I would really drive home the point that they had a problem, investigated to determine what it is, and outlined a plan for what we're going to do from now on,” said Gregory Charland, founder and chief executive officer of Charland Technology, a Hubbardston-based company offering a wide range of technology services. “Organizations should use problems like that to really do some soul searching and figure out how and why this happened. The overriding concept to underline is that they are never going to have their name in the news about this again.”

(Hint, and it’s in the blog post: don’t let sick employees work, even at an Easter buffet).

Alex Barbosa, the restaurant's manager, declined comment.

That’s one anecdote in a story about on-line reviewing, which some love and some hate.

Alec Lopez dislikes consumer-driven review websites like Yelp, TripAdvisor and UrbanSpoon.

The owner of Armsby Abey in Worcester, Mass. said, “I don't read reviews often,” Mr. Lopez said. “I hate Yelp because it's an unanswered forum for people to bitch. I feel like it's a green light to voice your opinion without consequences.”

Worcester native Andrew Chandler, a 29-year-old medical student at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, had an unpleasant dining experience at Armsby Abbey, and chronicled it on Yelp.

“I was really sad to have done it, but I think that when a place isn't responsive or accommodating, people should know about it. I was hoping Armsby Abbey would read it and respond. I think it goes a long way if a manager explains what the circumstances were, and how they'll prevent the problem from happening again. Today, online reviews can make or break a customer's decision.”

In September, Harvard Business School professor Michael Luca released research that found a one-star rating increase on Yelp directly led to a 5 percent to 9 percent boost in revenue for independent restaurants, with comparable projections for independents in other industries. Despite the growing influence of Yelp and similar websites, business owners like Mr. Lopez continue to ignore — or worse, incorrectly address — negative feedback when it comes in the form of an online review.

With 61 million monthly visitors and 22 million reviews online by the end of the third quarter last year, Yelp is the most popular online review destination for everything from dentists to dieticians. Yelp's popularity is proof that consumers trust reviews written by the average Joe, and enjoy contributing their own 2 cents.

Wilson Wang, chef and owner of Baba Sushi in Worcester, said he checks online reviews of his restaurant “all the time,” monitoring what diners like — and don't like.

Mr. Wang, whose customers' reviews currently rank Baba Sushi 4.5 out of 5 stars on Yelp.com, said he doesn't respond personally to people's comments but rather sees such reviews “as a mirror” to reveal what could be done better. “We are on the high level and we are really proud,” he said last week.

Yelp and websites like it open the door for independent businesses with limited marketing budgets, giving them an opportunity to advertise through old-fashioned word of mouth in a high-tech world. They offer a safety net to consumers who, with a few keystrokes, can be reassured that trying something new — rather than falling back on the reliability of a chain — won't be a waste of their money.

“Every time I've given a negative review and gotten some sort of constructive, non-judgmental response, I've made it a point to go back to whatever business it was and give them a clean slate,” said Amy Jamieson, a 42-year-old Yelp user and homemaker from Worcester. “If they're willing to try again, so am I.”

I don’t know who eats broiled chicken livers, but enough people do that 190 of them got sick in six states since April 2011, from Salmonella Heidelberg in the partially-cooked product.

The outbreak is another talking point in the point-the-finger approach to foodborne illness: dumb consumers, you should read the labels and know these thingies need to be fully cooked. And watch the cross-contamination.

• A total of 190 illnesses due to Salmonella Heidelberg with the outbreak pattern were reported from 6 states.
• The number of ill persons identified in each state the product is distributed to is as follows: New York (109), New Jersey (62), Pennsylvania (10), Maryland (6), Ohio (2), and Minnesota (1).
• Collaborative investigative efforts of state, local, and federal public health and regulatory agencies indicated that a product labeled as “kosher broiled chicken livers” is the source of this outbreak.
• Contaminated "kosher broiled chicken livers" were recalled from grocery stores but may still be in consumers' homes.
• Among persons for whom information is available in in these states, ill persons ranged in age from <1 to 97 years with a median age of 14 years. Forty-nine percent were female. Among the 154 ill persons with available information, 30 (19%) were hospitalized. No deaths were reported.

Consumers may have incorrectly thought the use of the word “broiled” in the label meant the chicken liver was ready-to-eat; however, these chicken livers must be fully cooked before eating. How the hell would anyone know?

A restaurant in Ballarat, northwest of Melbourne, was closed for a week on Dec. 30, 2011, after a cluster of salmonella infections including one death, were linked to the eatery.

A Health Department spokesman confirmed 13 cases of salmonella linked to the eatery, plus another five suspected cases.

Investigations are continuing into whether the death of an elderly man on December 30 is connected to the case.

Health officials said the premises required “a thorough clean-up” and they ordered an extensive overhaul of the business’s food-handling procedures.

Staff were also ordered to undertake more training in food handling.

In another example of repetition-doesn’t-make-it-right, he owner of the business said yesterday he was shocked by the incident.

“We’ve been using the same procedures for 21 years and never had such a thing. We don’t know what caused it but we have done everything the Health Department has asked us to do – everything – but we don’t know if it’s our fault or not.”

The owner said he had changed his supplier of eggs.

While the restaurant has reopened for business, it is still being monitored by Ballarat City Council.

Acting chief executive officer Jeff Pulford declined to say whether charges were pending.

“The matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation in conjunction with the Department of Health and as such it is inappropriate to make any comment,” he said.

If people were getting sick in Dec., the place was shut on Dec. 30, and almost two weeks later the restaurant is reopened with no more details than we’ve changed our egg supplier, it is more than appropriate to make a comment. How are consumers to know whether they should eat at the place or not?

Cross-contamination has been identified by WHO and CDC as a risk-factor that could lead to foodborne illness. Some folks, me included, have suggested that we don't know a whole lot about cross-contamination (mechanisms for transfer and how often they happen). In a study a couple of years ago, we video recorded handling practices in food service kitchens, and saw quite a bit of cross-contamination. 

And most of it was indirect - where equipment or utensils (like sinks and knives) was an intermediate that facilitated transfer.

The newest food safety infosheet, a graphical one-page food safety-related story directed at food businesses, demonstrates some of the consequences of indirect cross-contamination.

Food Safety Infosheet Highlights:
- 75 ill with salmonellosis after eating at the Tenth Hole Tea Rooms in Southsea (U.K.)
- Salmonella found in pre-cooked pasta and dishcloths, staff tested positive
- Don't wash raw meats. Salmonella and other bugs can be sprayed up to 3 feet away by washing.

Click here to download the sheet.