New food safety infosheet -- Harvey's E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak Report Released
The newest food safety infosheet, a graphical one-page food safety-related story directed at food handlers is also now available at foodsafetyinfosheets.ksu.edu. Infosheets are created weekly and are posted in restaurants, retail stores, on farms and used in training throughout the world.
This week's food safety infosheet focuses on a Fall 2008 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak inked to a Harvey's restaurant in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. 
Food safety infosheet highlights:
- Health authorities point to Spanish red onions as most likley source of the outbreak
- Poor sanitation of onion dicer may have prolonged the outbreak
- Equipment should be fully disassembled to allow for cleaning and sanitizing of hard to reach areas
Food safety infosheets are created weekly and are posted in restaurants, retail stores, on farms and used in training throughout the world. If you have any infosheet topic requests, or photos, please contact Ben Chapman at benjamin_chapman@ncsu.edu
You can follow food safety infosheets stories and barfblog on twitter @benjaminchapman and @barfblog.
Click here to download a pdf of the food safety infosheet.
Ontario E. coli outbreak likely caused by Spanish onions: 235 sickened
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.
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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?
North Bay E. coli outbreak - see it all on youtube
The use of video is changing public perceptions of foodborne illness outbreaks. At least that’s what we hypothesized after the 2006 E. coli in spinach outbreak. But check it out for yourself. Next time, get the head of CFIA or FDA on camera, explaining the basis for going public.
As of Monday, Oct. 20, 2008, there were a total of 141 cases, of which 28 are lab confirmed for E. coli O157:H7, which includes cases being investigated by six other health units in Ontario. The case numbers are down because further information has shown that 18 people are not part of this outbreak.
Does that mean there were 18 people who were sick that were part of another outbreak?
At this time, all of the 141 cases are linked to one location - the Harvey’s Restaurant in North Bay.
'Razors in my stomach' The human face of Harvey's E. coli outbreak
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."
Despite E. coli cases, Oklahoma restaurant kept serving customers; not so in North Bay
A Harvey’s restaurant in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, remains closed as the number of confirmed and suspected sick with E. coli O157:H7 climbed to 159 today.
The public health folks in North Bay must be going nuts, but they, along with the operators of Harvey’s, have put public health first and closed the restaurant until more is known.
Locust Grove, Oklahoma, was also hammered by an E. coli outbreak, E. coli O111, linked to dining at the Country Cottage restaurant in August.. One person died, 72 were hospitalized and 241 others got sick before the outbreak was contained.
Today it was revealed that State Health Department officials allowed the Country Cottage to stay open temporarily — even after confirming six of eight initial food poisoning victims had eaten its food, internal documents show. That decision may have resulted in additional people getting sick.
Health Department officials admitted last week there is no set threshold in such cases for closing a restaurant suspected of being the source of an outbreak.
There are no guidelines. Epidemiological investigations are full of uncertainty. So is most of what is known about foodborne illness. But after the Salmonella-in-tomatoes-jalapenos outbreak this summer, public health officials are seemingly reluctant to go public. Industry has attempted to take matters into their own hands – which they should have been doing anyway – and is increasingly challenging public health investigations with its own test results, and unfortunately overstating the value of their own tests.
Listeria in Maple Leaf deli meats, Salmonella in produce, E. coli in Ontario and Oklahoma. There are no guidelines on when to go public. Federal agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency must come clean with the public and industry and articulate the basis for public notification, or even restaurant closures, during outbreaks of foodborne illness. Until then local health units are left cleaning up the mess.
146 stricken with E. coli from Harvey's in Canada
The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit is now reporting a total of 146 cases of which 24 are lab confirmed for E. coli O157:H7, linked to dining at a Harvey’s Restaurant on Algonquin Avenue in North Bay, Ontario.
Included are cases being investigated by 6 other health units in Ontario, and the people who are ill range from 1 to 90 years old. Some are in hospital receiving treatment, while most are recovering at home.
“The Health Unit is screening staff at the restaurant located in North Bay. This includes collecting samples and conducting interviews,” reports Dr. Catherine Whiting, Medical Officer of Health for the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit. Health Unit staff continue to collect information and analyze data to ensure that all possible sources of E. coli O157:H7 are being investigated. City of North Bay emergency crews also conducted extra testing on the municipal water last weekend. Lab test results confirm that drinking water is not the source.
Harvey's restaurant in North Bay, Ontario, focus of E. coli outbreak
The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit in Ontario, Canada, is investigating a number of possible food sources related to seven laboratory confirmed cases of E. coli O157:H7 and an additional 20 illnesses.
Dr. Catherine Whiting, Medical Officer of Health, North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, said that many cases were traced back to Harvey’s restaurant located at 1899 Algonquin Avenue in North Bay, adding,
“To protect the health of the public, and based on initial analysis, I ordered the closure of the Harvey’s restaurant on Algonquin on Sunday evening at 9 pm as a precautionary measure. At that time, our health inspectors conducted a thorough inspection of the premises and collected food samples for testing. Until we receive the lab results, we cannot confirm the source of the E. coli contamination. At this point in the investigation, it appears to have been limited to this North Bay location.”
The Health Unit continues to investigate all possible food sources and Harvey’s is cooperating fully with the investigation.
Harvey’s President Rick McNabb said,
“The health and safety of our guests is our most important priority. We are cooperating fully with the Health Unit to determine the cause, and we take this matter very seriously.”
For more information, visit the Health Unit’s web site at www.healthunit.biz or call (705) 474-1400, or 1-800-563-3808.
