Saturday 491 people got sick off food in Chicago [View All]

from RSOE HAVARIA


Health department officials announced as of noon Sat 14 Jul 2007, a total of 491 people reported becoming ill after eating food from the Pars Cove Persian Cuisine booth at the Taste of Chicago festival. That number is up from the 378 reported on the day before <13 Jul 2007>. Of the 491, 44 are laboratory-confirmed cases of salmonellosis, of which 26 have been identified as serotype Heidelberg, a common _Salmonella_ serotype in the USA. A total of 15 people are known to have been hospitalized. The source of the salmonella outbreak has not been pinpointed as coming from food or food handlers, but only a single dish has been tied to illnesses according to a Chicago Department of Public Health news release -- hummus shirazi, a fresh herb, tomato, and cucumber salad over a bed of hummus. As a precaution, Pars Cove has been asked to stop serving hummus at its restaurant location. The CDPH said this was the 1st reported salmonella outbreak at the Taste in 20 years. The owner of Pars Cove has been cooperating with health officials and said he was surprised by the preliminary findings. Chicago health officials say they have frequent inspections and rigid food standards for all booths, but note inspectors test for
temperature, not microbes.
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