Article Published: Tuesday, October 05, 2004 – 11:25:54 AM EST
Berkshire Eagle
SHEFFIELD — Cafeteria workers at Berkshire School were inoculated for hepatitis yesterday after school officials learned last week of an “isolated incident” of a worker being infected with hepatitis A.
Berkshire School spokesman James Harris would not name the worker, or divulge the worker’s sex, citing school confidentiality policies. However, he said that the school contacted the Massachusetts Department of Health, which investigated the incident.
“We were advised that they determined there was no risk to the health of the students or other staff,” said Harris.
Harris said that no other cases of the disease have been reported at the school. He added that he was not aware of how the worker contracted the disease, “but our determination, and the determination of the Department of Health, is that this was an isolated incident.”
Harris said that parents of the students at the school were being notified by mail of the situation.
— Derek Gentile

Tammy McPherson DAILY HERALD
The Utah County Board of Health is considering raising the fee for a food-handler permit if it approves a hepatitis A immunization requirement.
The board will be holding a public hearing next month to talk about mandating the immunization for food handlers and how that requirement would be funded.
Board members suggested Monday raising the permit fee from $10 to $15 to pay for an employee to handle the extra paperwork. Any person who applied for a permit would have to show they have been immunized.
If they have not received the shots, food-handler applicants also would have to pay for the shots. Many insurance plans cover that cost, said Dr. Joseph Miner, executive director of the Utah County Health Department and member of the board.

Continue Reading Board of Health may raise food handler permit fee

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
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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 response agencies and local first-responders managed the 2003 Hepatitis-A outbreak in Beaver County, Pa.
The symposium, “Anatomy of an Outbreak in Western Pennsylvania,” will include speakers from the Pennsylvania Department of Health Bureau of Epidemiology, Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A panel discussion will be led by a representative from GlaxoSmithKline with panelists from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Allegheny County Health Department.
The symposium will be held in the G-23 Auditorium at GSPH. To register, visit www.cphp.pitt.edu/upcphp or call (412) 383-2400.
Launched in July 2002, the University of Pittsburgh Center for Public Health Preparedness (www.cphp.pitt.edu/upcphp) is housed in the Center for Public Health Practice (www.cphp.pitt.edu), University of Pittsburgh GSPH. The center is part of the national network of Academic Public Health Preparedness Centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to train the public health workforce to respond to threats to our nation’s health from bioterrorism, infectious disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies.
Contact: Alan Aldinger
Patients and medical professionals may call 1-800-533-UPMC (8762) for more information.
Telephone: 412-647-3555
Fax: 412-624-3184