CHICAGO Health authorities have traced a widespread salmonella poisoning during the Taste of Chicago restaurant festival here to three food handlers who were hired to staff the booth of a local restaurant called Pars Cove.
The three have tested positive for the bacteria, which causes diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever. But the officials say it is not clear if the workers were themselves contaminated by food offered at the booth, or if they were the source of the pathogen. Inspectors said they expect to pinpoint the specific cause of the outbreak perhaps as early as later today.
More than 500 people said they were sickened after eating hummus from the Pars Cove booth, according to Tim Hadac, spokesman for the Chicago Department of Public Health. At least 12 of them have been hospitalized.
Meanwhile, the CDPH has ordered the 30-year-old Pars Cove to stop serving hummus shirazi, a tomato and cucumber salad served atop a bed of hummus.
The outbreak is the first instance of foodborne illness to be traced to the 10-day Taste of Chicago festival in at least 20 years, the department said. CDPH sanitarians inspect the 70-plus food booths about four times each day during the festival, and food not sold during the day is stored overnight in monitored refrigerated storage trucks, according to organizers.
All vendors receive training on how to prepare, serve and store food safely under outdoor summer conditions. Each year, CDPH inspectors order an average of 200 pounds of food disposed of daily that does not meet its food safety standards.
