[chefboy2160]

Hey , has any one had any experience with a outbreak of food born illness ? The city I live in has recently had several outbreaks of the Norwalk type virus . 80 people at one hotel , a girls vollyball team and staff at another . Just 2 weeks ago the Hyatt which is across the parking lot from us had about 30 residents get hospitalized and about 20 staff sent home sick . Ive spoken to the chef over there and he and his staff have been put through the ringer by the state health department . The funny thing was that they do not think that this virus was spread by food but by public contact in an activities room . I have just been praying that the virus does not jump across the parking lot to my facility ! I"ll tell you that this is the part of the job that is real scary . I run a real clean and orginized kitchen but it does not matter when you are dealing with something like this .
Clear skies , Doug.............................................. ....

[Peachcreek]

I was told that several of these diseases were spread through the ventilation systems and that swamp coolers and cooling sumps have been found to be reason for some outbreaks. My appliance guy has me sanitize my swamp cooler with bleach before using it for the first time every year.

[Mel]

I worked at a operation that was exposed to
the Virus in the mid-90's. The CDC was called in
to investigate.The point of origin was found to
be a product on the salad bar.
From that experience and reading up on it,
increasing sanitation practices are your best
prevention. Rotate serving utensils more frequently to reduce any chance of cross contamination on salad bars. Make sure time and
tempertures are being checked consistantly and
logged. One of the first things the CDC requested
upon arrival were all t/temp logs dating back
one year which we had.
Communicate the importance of constant handwashing with your staff using hot water and
the 20 second rule. If sanitation gloves are required to worn by staff in prep and service,
reinforce the importance of changing those after
each task.
ml

[panini]

Ice machines are a wonderful hotel for virus