September 24, 2004
BY JANET RAUSA FULLER Staff Reporter Advertisement
Employees at three out of four restaurants don’t wash their hands well enough or often enough while handling your food.
More than half of fast-food joints aren’t properly cleaning work surfaces and utensils used to cook your burger.
And roughly two out of three deli departments aren’t storing ready-to-eat foods at the right temperatures.
Those are among the findings in a new report released this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In 2003, the agency inspected 926 food-service establishments nationwide in nine categories — including elementary schools, hospitals, nursing homes and retail — and found widespread risks of food-borne illnesses.
The most common red flags in every category: improper food storage, poor employee hygiene and contaminated equipment.Continue Reading Restaurants serving up health risks, FDA warns

BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Outback Steakhouse Inc. this week closed on its $42.5 million deal for the rights to 76 restaurants in the Chi-Chi’s chain, which was beleaguered by bankruptcy and a hepatitis outbreak.
Outback plans to convert many of the restaurants into its own brands – which include its signature Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grills, Bonefish Grills, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bars, Roy’s and Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurants.
“We felt it was a good opportunity to acquire a large number of good locations that we can use for our brands,” said Joseph Kadow, senior vice president for Outback Steakhouse Inc., based in Tampa, Fla.
Meanwhile, Chi-Chi’s – a Mexican restaurant chain based in Louisville – posted a statement on its Web site hinting at its fate.
“We would like to thank all of our loyal customers of the past 27 years and with a tear in our eye, say Adios,” the statement said.
A recorded message on Chi-Chi’s toll-free guest relations hotline said the chain was no longer in business and apologized for any inconvenience caused by the closure of its restaurants.Continue Reading Outback Steakhouse closes on acquisition of Chi-Chi’s restaurants

By Kim Leonard and Sam Spatter
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
It’s adios to Chi-Chi’s Mexican restaurants.
The remaining 66 Chi-Chi’s nationwide closed Sunday, after a long decline in business and last year’s outbreak of hepatitis A at the Beaver Valley Mall location that killed four people and sickened about 660 others.
While a supply of Mexican-grown green onions — and not the restaurant’s food-handling practices — eventually was identified as the source, the Beaver location and the chain in general failed to survive the national publicity. The Chi-Chi’s in Beaver, Pleasant Hills and Hempfield were the last three in the Pittsburgh area.
“They had their base core of customers who were loyal,” Tim Veith, general manager of the Beaver Valley Mall, said of the restaurant there, “but they lost their other customers.”
After closing Nov. 3 when diners began to fall ill with hepatitis A, which attacks the liver, the Beaver location reopened with fanfare on Jan. 15, publicizing a stringent new set of cleanliness standards.
A statement on the company’s Web site now says, “We would like to thank all of our loyal customers of the past 27 years and with a tear in our eye, say Adios.”
“Thanks for 13 great years,” said the words on a sign on the door at the closed Chi-Chi’s along East Pittsburgh Street in Hempfield.
Deborah Englert, the borough secretary in Pleasant Hills, said she’d heard a rumor the restaurant there might close, adding that she would miss it.Continue Reading Mexican chain closes for good

By TAMARIA L. KULEMEKA, tkulemeka@nncogannett.com
The Eagle-Gazette Staff
——————————————————————————–
LANCASTER — Chi-Chi’s Restaurants closed stores across the country Sunday, including the Lancaster store.
Rushville residents Karl and Lori Kent weren’t the least bit surprised to hear news that the chain closed down restaurants.
“It seems like ever since the green onion (incident) I’ve noticed the parking lot wasn’t as busy on Friday nights,” said 44-year-old Lori Kent. “Every other place would be swamped but Chi-Chi’s wouldn’t be.”
The closings follow an outbreak of more than 600 cases of Hepatitis A linked to green onions at one of the chain’s restaurants in Pennsylvania last year.
Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by a virus. It is spread from person to person through contaminated fluids or foods. The Centers for Disease Control said the best way to prevent the disease is to wash your hands frequently. Symptoms of the disease include fatigue, loss of appetite and fever.
The Eagle-Gazette made calls to the local restaurant last week inquiring about the closing, and was referred to the company’s parent company Prandium, Inc.Continue Reading Chi-Chi’s closes local restaurant

By Jill Casey
Monday, September 20, 2004
SWAMPCOTT — Local health officials announced on Sunday that a waitress at Bertucci’s restaurant in Vinnin Square has tested positive for hepatitis A.
Despite the diagnosis, officials determined that it was not necessary to administer a public immunization for anyone who dined at Bertucci’s between Aug. 28 and Sept. 7 or to close the restaurant.
As a precautionary measure, the restaurant’s workforce was administered Immune Globulin (IG) on Saturday, according to a release from the Swampscott Board of Health. The IG issued to the workforce provided an immediate protection against the disease, and the immunization lasts 3-5 months when given within two weeks after exposure to hepatitis A.
Health officials said an inspection of the restaurant was undertaken over the weekend and it was determined that it would not be necessary to close the restaurant.
Officials said the disease is spread through close contact or through food handling, and that it can be spread by contaminated food or beverages. Even mild cases, they said, can be highly contagious.Continue Reading Waitress at Swampscott restaurant has hepatitis A

Event to Examine Public Health Response to Last Year’s Outbreak in Beaver County
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 14, 2004 — The University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Public Health Preparedness and Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) will hold a symposium on Friday, Sept. 24, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., to explore how public health and emergency…

SHREVEPORT, LA
KSLA-TV
A Shreveport firefighter is spending his first night at home since undergoing a lifesaving liver transplant.
“I’m great. I’m great. If I get any better, I couldn’t handle it,” said Capt. Gene Williams, as a nurse wheeled him into a conference room at Willis-Knighton Medical Center.
Williams spoke to the media Friday morning, for the first time since his life-threatening ordeal began.
After returning from a Florida vacation last month, Williams said, he and his wife, Julie, suddenly took ill. Doctors diagnosed them both with Hepatitis A, and like 90-percent of those who contract the illness, Julie Williams made a complete recovery. However, her husband quickly slipped into a coma and his liver shut down, leaving him in critical need of an organ transplant.Continue Reading Firefighter Heads Home after Liver Transplant

Shreveport Fire Department
801 Crockett Street Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318/673-6655 FAX: 318/673-6656 http://www.shreveportfire.org
Kelvin J. Cochran, Fire Chief
August 30, 2004
PRESS RELEASE
To: Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Asst. to the Fire Chief
Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137
Firefighter in Desperate Need of Organ Donor for Transplant
Shreveport bravest fighting for life after contracting hepatis on family vacation . . .
A Shreveport Fire Department officer is in the intensive care unity of Willis Knighton Medical Center fighting for his life this morning after being recently diagnosed with Hepatitis “A”. Captain Gene Williams, 49, was vacationing with family in Destin, Florida in July when after arriving back home to Shreveport his wife, Julie, became ill and was diagnosed with Hepatitis A. As a precaution, Gene was given a Globulin shot to boost his immunity against contracting the disease but a short time later, he also became ill and was diagnosed with the condition. While Julie recovered, Gene’s symptoms became increasingly worse. He was admitted to the hospital on August 16. Since that time his state has grown progressively worse and in the last week has become dire. His physicians, including the organ transplant team at LSUHSC say that Gene is in need of a liver transplant as soon as possible.
The Williams’ family and the Shreveport Fire Department are making a rare public appeal for a liver doner. Gene is already on the local, state, and national list – being priority one in Louisiana, but his family and the fire department feel that by bringing added attention to his and others in similar conditions, a family or individual may come forward to donate that would have not normally done so.
The circumstances of how exactly the William’s contracted the disease are still unclear. The family believes that they came into contact with the disease at a restauraunt while on their Florida vacation. Prior to the illness, Gene Williams was the picture of health and in good physical condition. He has been on the fire department since 1981 and served previously as a firefighter, and fire driver before being promoted to captain in 1999. Gene is the captain at Fire Station 5 on Stoner avenue, where he has spent the majority of his fire service career.Continue Reading Firefighter in Desperate Need of Organ Donor for Transplant