The Public Health Department of Dayton and Montgomery County has linked an outbreak of Salmonella to Lucky’s Taproom & Eatery.
The department received 80 reports of illness between February 22 and February 28, 2016. Symptoms of illness included diarrhea, stomach cramps, headache, nausea, and vomiting. Of the 80, 5 were admitted to area hospitals and 20 tested positive for an infection from Salmonella bacteria.
Contaminated Mayonnaise Found at Restaurant
Pubic Health obtained stool samples from ill patrons and employees and 3 food samples from the restaurant: mayonnaise, goat cheese and avocados. These samples, both food and stool samples, were submitted for testing to the Ohio Department of Health Laboratory to determine if there is a link between the people who ate at the restaurant and became sick and the food that they ate.
Environmental tests performed by the Ohio Department of Health Laboratory on the 3 food samples acquired from Lucky’s Taproom found Salmonella in the mayonnaise, but not in the goat cheese or avocados. This positive test, combined with the positive human samples and epidemiological evidence, confirmed the restaurant as the source of the foodborne outbreak.
Public Health’s Environmental Health Director, Jennifer Wentzel explained, “Although we can’t say with certainty how this unfortunate outbreak happened, it underscores the importance of all aspects of practicing proper food safety, both in restaurants and at home. We are notifying all positive cases and providing follow-up instructions. Public Health will do a walk-through of the facility before Lucky’s reopens to make sure the facility is clean, sanitized, and safe for the public going forward.”
Salmonella Food Poisoning a Serious Public Health Risk
In recent years, Salmonella infection (salmonellosis) spread through unsafe food handling practices has become a major public health risk in the U.S. 40,000 cases are reported each year, but many other cases are often not recorded; some estimates place the total number of infections at closer to four million.
If you are sickened by Salmonella at a restaurant like Lucky’s Taproom & Eatery, you may initially experience symptoms such as nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever / chills, muscle pains, headache, and blood in the stool. However, these symptoms may also lead to complications including colitis, reactive arthritis, Salmonella meningitis (brain infection), and bacteremia (a life-threatening blood infection). In far too many instances, wrongful death also occurs.