Chinese restaurant to close for good after Salmonella outbreak, failed repeat inspection
Ruby Chinese Restaurant, the beleaguered eatery at the source of a Salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 22 people and possibly contributed to the death of another, will close for good.
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The Toronto Star reports that word is spreading in north Scarborough's Chinese community that the immensely popular restaurant will not reopen after a recent salmonella outbreak.
At an emergency meeting on Sunday, according to a source, the restaurant's three owners are said to have decided to file for bankruptcy on Monday, and have hired an accountant to prepare for auctioning off furniture and equipment.
The 17-year-old restaurant was closed by Toronto Public Health in early October. It failed another inspection two days later, with health officials citing cockroaches and a very dirty floor.
The owners were told by a pest control firm that ending the cockroach problem would require treating the entire single-storey strip mall at 1571 Sandhurst Circle, near Finch Ave. E. and McCowan Rd. As well, customers were cancelling the multi-course banquets that made up the bulk of its business.
Thank you for the Salmonella sir, can I have some more? Customers flock to shuttered restaurant
A Toronto restaurant that made 37 of its customers barf and remains closed after two failed health inspections, is still packing them in – on the front lawn.
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John He and Peter Wong waited on the manicured lawn of Ruby Chinese Restaurant Saturday afternoon for a friend to join them for lunch. The men knew about the salmonella, but thought the restaurant would be open.
"Many customers are crying that it's closed down. "I'm healthy," adding he dines at Ruby about three times a week.
Probably not a consolation to the dead person believed to be linked to the outbreak.
The Toronto Star also reported this morning that children pulled on locked doors and the curious pressed their faces against the glass Saturday afternoon. The lights were off inside and staff were cleaning. None were available for comment.
Jeeping Huang did not know about the salmonella outbreak or failed inspections. She was surprised, not worried, and will eat at the restaurant again.
"Every restaurant works this way. They can change and make improvements," she said.
Every restaurant does not work this way, and shouldn't.
Toronto restaurant at center of Salmonella outbreak fails reinspection - still closed
Dumb things to say when 37 people are sick and 1 dead, from the same restaurant: "I eat here regularly and I have never gotten sick. Everyone in the community eats there. It has a very good reputation."
Apparently the Globe and Mail newspaper thinks so too, and published an awesome online review of Ruby, the Chinese restaurant at the center of a Salmonella outbreak. Or it was available, according to a food writer at the rival National Post newspaper, until the restaurant was closed: “review now deleted.”
Howard Shapiro, Toronto's associate medical officer of health, said,
Despite having almost two days to clean the restaurant, the restaurant failed to "meet the requirements needed to be met to re-open.” The restaurant will remain closed until the next inspection takes place sometime this weekend.
The restaurant was shut down on Wednesday, after two health inspectors found that foods were not protected from contamination, raw meat wasn't kept at the correct temperature, and utensils and cooking surfaces were inadequately cleaned. There was also a cockroach infestation and Shapiro said the floor was "dirtier than we would find acceptable."
Toronto Public Health investigating Salmonella illnesses associated with chinese restaurant; outbreak possibly linked to death
CBC and CTV are both reporting that Toronto Public Health is investigating an outbreak of Salmonella linked to a Chinese restaurant in Scarborough. The outbreak is reportedly linked to the Ruby Chinese restaurant near McCowan Road and Finch Avenue West in Scarborough. At least 19 diners have tested positive for Salmonella after eating there between Sept. 12 and Sept. 30. 
One elderly man who died ate in the restaurant during the affected time frame, but officials are still waiting for tests to confirm whether he did in fact have salmonella poisoning.
Inspectors had been called in on September 29 after complaints but found everything up to code. When they returned Wednesday they found infractions and shut the place down.
The City of Toronto's online restaurant inspection database shows that the restaurant had passed inspections without conditions eight times before.
Investigative journalists still required for food safety - even if newspapers disappear
Toronto city councillor Brian Ashton said yesterday,
"I was stunned that the Toronto Star was able to – for the second time – expose a problem that the Board of Health seemed to be unaware of," referring to the newspaper's "Dirty Dining" series in 2000, which prompted public health to release restaurant inspection records. "The Toronto Star is becoming more like a board of health than the Board of Health."
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Food safety stories are increasingly the fodder of investigative journalists, regardless of media. We all eat, so we’re all interested to a point, although not everyone wants to go politico with every bite – sometimes it’s enough to not barf.
The recent Toronto Star series on the filth of soft-serve ice cream machines is an example of media setting the public health agenda.
Toronto Public Health is cracking down on more than 100 ice cream vendors after a Star investigation revealed hazardous levels of bacteria in soft-serve cones across the city.
Consumers can do the same thing – with pictures and video that can readily be captured by most cell phones. Send it to your local health unit.
Otherwise, D-listers like Tori Spelling (above, right, exactly as shown) set the agenda.
Toronto takes on feds, province, issues own food safety agenda
I hear from local public health officials all the time, and the ones in Canada repeatedly say the single food inspection agency -- known creatively as, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency – sucks.
The provincial regulators also suck.
So after years of taking it, the City of Toronto is once again trailblazing when it comes to serving the public – those who end up barfing from bad food – and has come up with its own idea of a food safety system that serves people.
Robert Cribb of the Toronto Star reports this morning that in a series of three reports to be presented to Toronto city council on Monday (available at http://www.toronto.ca/health/moh/foodsecurity.htm), foodborne illness in Toronto is rampant and that in order to have fewer people barfing:
• Ontario should consider compensating food handlers who are too sick to come to work due to "gastrointestinal illness;"
• Ontario and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency should provide "full and timely disclosure of the food safety performance of all food premises
they inspect;” and,
• mandatory food handler training and certification, as recommended in the Justice Haines report of 2004 (that was my contribution).
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A related story maintains that cases of foodborne illness began to fall almost immediately after Toronto began making restaurant inspection results public in 2001.
John Filion, chair of the city's board of health, said it is the clearest evidence yet of the public health benefits of transparency.
Good for Toronto, especially when the feds and the province leave the locals out to dry on outbreaks of foodborne illness. In the Aug. 2008 outbreak of listeria linked to Maple Leaf deli meats, Toronto health types said they had plenty of evidence something was amiss in July, but CFIA and others refused to go public until Aug. 17, 2008. So with a federal listeria inquiry set to begin Monday, and Maple Leaf all focused on federal regulations, how are Maple Leaf executives going to handle pesky local health units like Toronto – the ones who actually do the work, uncover outbreaks and create their own headlines.
KATIE FILION: Rodents run amuck at Toronto Loblaw's
A Loblaw’s Supermarket in Toronto, Canada, is closed following a customer complaint regarding a mouse inside the store.
Toronto Public Health (TPH) officials closed the store last night, and already Dinesafe, a website designed to disclose inspection results for food premises in the Toronto area, has updated its most recent inspection findings to include infractions discovered last night, such as:
• failure to ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated;
• failure to prevent rodent infestation; and,
• failure to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4C (40F).
According to Dinesafe, the Dupont St. Loblaw’s has passed the last ten TPH inspections, dating back to April 2007. But are restaurant inspections a good indicator of the quality of an establishment? Or simply a brief snapshot of a food premise at one point in time? And are web-based disclosure systems like Dinesafe the most effective way to communicate inspection results to consumers?
News reports like the ones in the Toronto Sun or Globe and Mail, websites like Dinesafe, and blogs like this or blogTO, get the information out there to consumers. What I am interested in is which of these methods is the most effective.
Don't eat poop: Hepatitis A alert for Toronto sushi restaurant
Toronto Public Health has identified a case of Hepatitis A in a food handler at Sushi Haru located at 635 College Street at Grace Street in Toronto. Anyone who consumed food from this restaurant on the following dates may have been exposed to the Hepatitis A virus: September 30; October 1 to 3; or October 6 to 10. …
If you ate at Sushi Haru on October 9, you may still benefit from receiving a vaccination to prevent Hepatitis A infection. The vaccine is effective for up to 14 days after coming into contact with the virus. Today is the last day that the vaccine would be effective. Call your doctor to get the vaccine, or go to a walk-in clinic.
A Fact Sheet on Hepatitis A is available at www.toronto.ca/health.
Toronto shuts restaurant after rat sighting
The rats must have seen the Stephen Colbert bear-visiting-Subway bit cause they showed up for a video performance in a Toronto Chinatown restaurant last night.
A passerby originally posted a photo of the rat-in-the-restaurant to blogto.com. Video footage soon followed.
The Toronto Star reports,
Inspectors visited Happy Seven, a Chinese restaurant on Spadina Ave. known for late-night munchies, yesterday after seeing the video, but did not find any signs of vermin.
The restaurant passed an inspection on Oct. 2, and public records show it was inspected an average three times per year.
In February, someone photographed a rat in the window of the Dumpling House, about a block south of Happy Seven. The restaurant was forced to close while it disinfected the premises and called a pest control company. Between clean-up expenses and the temporary closure, the restaurant lost about $10,000, a manager said at the time. It has since re-opened.
Listeria in cheese from Toronto shop sickened pregnant woman
On Aug. 29, 2008, Ping Chiu, owner of Cheese Magic in Kensington Market, had to throw out $1,000 worth of cheese and wasn’t happy about it.
"According to the health inspector, it was listeria. Although I was told by two big cheese suppliers that it can't be listeria."
It was listeria.
“Health officials confirmed Tuesday that product sold at a popular Kensington Market cheese shop was the source of the listeria bacterium that sickened a pregnant customer.
“Cheese Magic at 182 Baldwin St. was closed down last week after a regular customer fell ill after contracting listeriosis. Health inspectors also claim they found cat and mouse droppings in a food area of the store, mould growth inside a walk-in cooler, and products stored at incorrect temperatures.
“The business has since reopened after inspectors found it had met all safety requirements when they revisited the shop.”
For some bizarre reason, Dr. Barbara Yaffe, an Associate Medical Officer of Health for Toronto Public Health, felt it necessary to downplay the risk of listeria, especially for pregnant women, rather than shout it from the rooftops.
“Keep in mind that the risk from listeriosis is low for healthy individuals. Those most at risk of developing serious illness are pregnant women, the elderly, and those with weak immune systems."
Thanks. My pregnant wife will keep that in mind. So will the pregnant woman who got sick. At some point Canadian health types will have an honest discussion with consumers at risk without worrying if they will offend industry.
Toronto Chinatown restaurant reopens
The Star reports that the restaurant was closed over the long weekend and management was told it would have to comply with health regulations, including disinfecting the premises and contacting a pest-control operator.
Michael Chu, the manager of the Dumpling House was cited as saying he wanted to deal with the vermin problem, adding,"If the city didn't shut us down, I would have closed."
The best part (and not really surprising) of the story to me is this:
While the incident will cost Chu around $10,000 in cleanup and closing costs, he says he's not concerned. Even with a sign outside alerting people to the infestation, he had to turn people away. "I have gotten calls of support all day. It's touching. I just want to cry."
Wonder how much of an effect posting restaurant grades/advisories really has on consumer preferences (especially if it is your favourite spot).
Toronto Chinatown restaurant closed after rat photos surface
Passerby Vivian Hui said rats were visible through a window of the Dumpling House Restaurant yesterday afternoon, adding, "I noticed what I thought was a cat on the counter inside Dumpling House but it turned out to be four or five rats piled on top of each other eating from a bowl of flour or something."
She e-mailed her boyfriend, Matt Alexander, who alerted health authorities. He also sent the photo to blogto.com, a popular Toronto city blog.
Toronto Public Health said inspectors went to the restaurant immediately, saw evidence of an infestation, and shut the restaurant down.
A manager who answered the phone at the restaurant said they agreed with health inspectors that the restaurant needed to be shut down, adding,
"I fully agree. If there’s a problem, some indication, we have to take it seriously. We have pest control guys working on the case right now. … ‘We have a very good reputation. That’s why we are taking this very seriously. I think [this shutdown] may affect business for a very short time, but not very much because our cleaning conditions are good."
The manager said he had never seen rats himself in the restaurant, and said any rat problem is not confined to Dumpling House. He said downtown has a rat problem generally, and the city needs to do something about it. Same as New York.
Rabies outbreak in Toronto
Toronto health officials said the eight-week-old border collie, which has died, was from a group of 12 puppies at the market. The other 11 dogs are under quarantine.The mother of the border collie, from a farm in Eastern Ontario, has also died after contacting the virus from a rabid skunk.
Howard Shapiro, associate medical officer of health at Toronto Public Health, said at least 80 Toronto-area people, who came in contact with the animals, have had to get rabies shots. More than 900 people have contacted a hotline set up since the disease was found in one of the animals.
