HEALTH Department officials have swooped to shut down a salmonella outbreak suspected of contributing to 18 cases of food poisoning, including one possible death.
The outbreak hit in the busy weeks around Christmas and investigations have centred on one Ballarat restaurant.
A spokesman said officers ordered the restaurant to close for a week after detecting a cluster of salmonella notifications across the city.
Working alongside Ballarat City Council officers, health officials said the premises required “a thorough clean-up” and they ordered an extensive overhaul of the business’s food-handling procedures.
Staff were also ordered to undertake more training in food handling.
A Health Department spokesman confirmed 13 cases of salmonella linked to the eatery, plus another five suspected cases.
Investigations are continuing into whether the death of an elderly man on December 30 is connected to the case.
Salmonella infections occur after eating contaminated food or after contact with another person with the infection.
Symptoms include headache, fever, stomach cramps, diarrhoea, nausea, and vomiting.
Salmonella can be carried on the hands or on cooking utensils, and may be introduced through undercooked food from infected animals.
The Health Department said more than 2700 cases of salmonella were notified across the state last year but the Ballarat closure, on December 30, was only the second ordered by the department in Victoria in 2011.
The owner of the business said yesterday he was shocked by the incident.
“We’ve been using the same procedures for 21 years and never had such a thing,” he said.
“We don’t know what caused it but we have done everything the Health Department has asked us to do — everything — but we don’t know if it’s our fault or not.”
The owner said he had changed his supplier of eggs.
While the restaurant has reopened for business, it is still being monitored by Ballarat City Council.
Acting chief executive officer Jeff Pulford declined to say whether charges were pending.
“The matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation in conjunction with the Department of Health and as such it is inappropriate to make any comment,” he said.
A government fact sheet said infected food handlers could “shed large numbers of salmonella”. Poor food storage can also allow salmonella to grow.
Laboratories are required to notify public health authorities of salmonella infection.
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