By Melissa Batulis
November 24, 2004
Nine people were infected with Hepatitis A between September and October this fall after eating at the Maple Lawn Dairy Family Restaurant in Wellsburg. After a thorough investigation, health officials say they are confident the restaurant is safe for customers.
At a meeting of the Chemung County Board of Health Tuesday night, Public Health Director Robert Page says the source of the outbreak was one of the restaurant’s employees who was infected with Hepatitis A and did not know. He believes that all cases from there have been isolated.
Spreading Hepatitis or any other disease is always a threat especially this time of year when preparing holiday meals. Page says if people are ill or do not use proper hygiene, diseases or viruses can be spread from person to person. The health department also recommends using gloves when mixing foods like hamburger or stuffing and making sure to clean surfaces especially if raw meat has touched it. Also, use good common sense and wash your hands and fresh foods thoroughly.

Utah County health board shuns mandatory hepatitis A vaccine
By Sharon Haddock
Deseret Morning News
November 23, 2004
PROVO — It was the food fight that wasn’t.
Those who came to a public hearing Monday prepared to argue against mandatory hepatitis A shots for food handlers didn’t have to fight after all.
The Utah County Board of Health opted to pursue a “no bare hands” policy instead.
That means those in the restaurant and fast-food industry may need to put on gloves before preparing any ready-to-eat food or use tongs or spatulas to serve and move food.
The proposal must go through a public-approval process before the board can vote on it. The earliest the board would be able to vote on it would be March.

Continue Reading Gloves, no shots, likely for staffs at restaurants

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 21, 2004
Two Pittsburgh students finished as runners-up in the team category in the regional finals of the 2004-05 Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science & Technology held at Carnegie Mellon University yesterday.
Sara Bacvinskas, of Brashear High School, and David Chancellor, of Winchester Thurston School, had entered a project called “Dirt in ‘Clean’ Green Onions: Implications for Transmission of Hepatitis A.”
The idea struck them after the largest hepatitis A outbreak of its kind occurred when 660 patrons were sickened and four died after eating contaminated green onions last year at a Chi-Chi’s in Beaver County.

Continue Reading 2 local students runners-up in Westinghouse competition

Two teens in finals of science competition
By Christopher Snowbeck, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 20, 2004
As Sara Bacvinskas learned about the hepatitis A outbreak at the Beaver Valley Mall Chi-Chi’s restaurant last year, she kept wondering how it could have happened.
David Chancellor wondered, too, although his curiosity was piqued, in part, because his mom was busy investigating the outbreak as a public health physician with the state Department of Health.
Earlier this year, the high school students met by chance in a lab at the University of Pittsburgh and went on to collaborate on a science project regarding the outbreak. This weekend, they’re presenting their findings at the regional finals of the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science & Technology at Carnegie Mellon University.
The project by Bacvinskas and Chancellor on how green onions can become contaminated with hepatitis A virus was among 1,037 entries reviewed for the sixth annual national competition. Just 54 projects advanced to regional finals — 11 in the Middle States regional being judged here.

Continue Reading Project says why hepatitis flourishes

EDITORIAL
November 20, 2004
In Pennsylvania, the state releases reports of restaurant inspections when no violation is found but does not disclose those in which serious violations have been discovered.
All inspection records of Pennsylvania restaurants should be available to the public, as they are in New York and New Jersey and some other states. Some states go further: In Tennessee, the state puts restaurant inspection scores on the Internet. In California, inspection reports are posted on the outside of restaurants.
In Pennsylvania, however, secrecy prevails.

Continue Reading Restaurant inspection records should be public

FDA Recently Approved Produce Safety Plan
Becky Thompson
November 18, 2004
PITTSBURGH — One year ago, the hepatitis outbreak at Chi-Chi’s had us all asking tough questions about the safety of our food supply.
But one year later, has anything really changed?
Federal investigators linked contaminated green onions from Mexico to the hepatitis outbreak.
But now, it’s possible you could still get sick from contaminated green onions.
The United States stopped trucks at the border, sent inspectors into Mexican fields and heard a lot of tough talk. There was even a call for a congressional investigation. That never happened.

Continue Reading 1 Year After The Hepatitis Outbreak Is Our Food Safer?

BY LAURA WILLIAMS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
November 17, 2004
A swanky New Hyde Park restaurant was deemed fit for operation yesterday – despite a Health Department warning of possible hepatitis contamination.
After a kitchen worker at Villa Leone restaurant was diagnosed with hepatitis A, health officials said anyone who ate at the Union Turnpike eatery in October was at risk of contracting the disease.
“We’re still in the process of testing all employees,” Nassau County Health Department spokeswoman Cynthia Brown said.
None of the employees tested so far has the virus, she said.
But health inspectors found other violations at the Italian restaurant, Brown said, adding that she couldn’t say what they were because the investigation is continuing.

Continue Reading Hepatitis scare restaurant gets county OK

Food handlers in training for Jan. 1 certification deadline
By TOM TIBERIO
Tribune Staff Writer
November 16, 2004
SOUTH BEND — Restaurants and other eateries in Indiana that fail to meet the new Food Handler Certification requirement by Jan. 1 may be fined up to $100 per day.
Phil Schreiber isn’t taking any chances.
Schreiber, who owns Between the Buns restaurants, plans to have his entire management and kitchen staff certified. But not just to avoid the penalties for noncompliance.
“It just makes good business sense to know that your staff is going to make sure your customers are not going to get sick,” Schreiber said.

Continue Reading Getting ready for new law

Nikita Hairston
November 16, 2004
The Chemung County Health Department is issuing another warning for those who may have had contact with Hepatitis A.
The department says someone with the virus handled fresh fruits and vegetables in the food cupboard at the United Methodist Church in Pine City on November 6th.
The health officials say the risk of exposure is low, but they want to interview anyone who accepted the produce to see if they should take preventative measures.
So far, the only recorded case is that of the infected food handler.
Director Robert Page said, “We just want to be sure that the public is informed and people don’t exaggerate the risks. There have been 10 cases of Hepatitis A who are connected in one way or another.”
Keep in mind the warning is for those who received produce on November 6th only.
If you think you’ve been exposed to Hepatitis A, you can contact the Chemung County Health Department at 737-2028.

November 16, 2004
MINEOLA, N.Y. — Patrons of a Long Island restaurant may have been exposed to hepatitis A.
The Nassau County Department of Health says the restaurant, Villa Leone, of New Hyde Park, has reported that one of their food workers had hepatitis A last month.
The health department says all patrons of Villa Leone during the month of October may be at risk for contracting hepatitis A. Symptoms usually surface about three to four weeks after exposure and include fatigue, poor appetite, fever and vomiting. Not everyone who is infected will have all the symptoms.
Some people can transmit the disease before symptoms occur, so health officials advise everyone to carefully wash their hands after using the bathroom and before food preparation.
There are no medicines that can be used to treat a person once the symptoms of hepatitis A appear. The disease is rarely fatal and most people recover in a few weeks without complications.