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Team's food poisoning
not restaurant's fault Source of Article: http://www.chagrinvalleytimes.com/NC/0/311.html
November
05, 2008
That means complete vindication for
the Ramble Inn, the Newbury restaurant that donated the food, owner William Prots said last week. "For us personally, we feel it
clears us of any wrongdoing whatsoever," said Mr. Prots,
who has owned the restaurant with his wife, Nicole, for the past four years.
"Obviously, we'd have been thrilled had nothing ever happened, even
though we're not responsible. We don't want anyone to get sick. The findings
show what we said all along. We turned out excellent product." Peggy Scherer, personal health
services director for the county health district, explained that the
food-borne illness was caused by bacteria. The particular bacteria
found in the prime rib that was served is clostridium perfringens,
which is very common, she said. "It exists in the intestines of healthy
individuals and in healthy animals. It's found in the soil." Ms. Scherer said cooking does not
normally kill the spores of this bacteria, but it
stops them from multiplying. "As long as the food is kept at a
temperature above 140 degrees, there usually isn't a problem," she said.
"You eat it and don't get sick." If the spores are at a temperature
below that, they start to "germinate and multiply," she said. The issue with the West G dinner was a
"time and temperature problem," Ms. Scherer said. "It was too
long at the wrong temperature." Mr. Prots
said the equipment at his restaurant was set to 145 degrees. "I set it
myself," he said. "We had it there until it was picked up." Food was picked up roughly at 3:15 and
served at 5:30 p.m., resulting in an approximate two-hour window, according
to the report. The ideal range for the bacteria to grow is 70 to 120 degrees
for an hour and a half. "As we said all along, once the
product leaves here, we have no control over what happened," Mr. Prots said. "We know we had it at that temperature
when it was picked up. We feel this totally vindicates us." Ms. Scherer said food servers at the
school indicated that, when they brought the food in, they lit the flame
underneath the warming trays. "That does not make things real hot,"
she said. "We suspect that some of the meat that was near the bottom or
right near the flame was probably OK, but the meat on top went into a dangerous
temperature range." As a result, those who ate the meat
that had a lot more spores which were germinating became sick, she said.
"The toxin that forms is what makes you sick." Ms. Scherer said such illness is
common from foods served in large quantities such as at buffets, banquets or
wedding receptions. "The prime rib probably already
had this bacteria, but it is not in large amounts
until the food comes out of temperature range," she said. Had the situation been caused by the
restaurant, Mr. Prots said, "Our customers here
would have had the bacteria" and became ill. They did not, he said.
"I've been a caterer for 20 years and been at this restaurant for four
years and never had one complaint. Even though this was a complaint, it was
not our product that was responsible." Mr. Prots
said he has been preparing dinners for the He said his business has not suffered
since the incident occurred. "We've had quite a bit of support from the
West G parents knowing in their hearts from what we've done in the past that
we had nothing to do it," Mr. Prots said. "They have been a supporter in
the past of the football dinners, and I assume our relationship with them
will continue in the future," West Geauga School Superintendent Anthony Podojil said last week. Although the investigation by the
Chester Township Police Department is over, the district will continue to
track down comments made by students that the food was tampered with, Dr. Podojil said. "I'm sure the high school will do
their due diligence of who said what and why someone would have said
something to lead us to believe contamination was going on. We know the names
of students potentially involved in discussions about this." However, such conversations "are
the normal things that go on with teenagers," Dr. Podojil
said. "It's a chain of discussion, a three-sentence remark that becomes
a 30-page document when it's done. We may get to the end and decide the kids
were just speculating. That's probably what occurred." Ms. Scherer met with students,
parents, staff and administrators last week at the high school to answer
questions and supply them with more information about food-borne illness and
how food poisoning can be avoided. "This is not a long-term
problem," Ms. Scherer said of the illness, which includes diarrhea.
"It's self-limiting. Once you get rid of the toxin, you get rid of the
problem |
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