The El Potrero restaurant in Owosso, Michigan, that is at the center of a Salmonella food poisoning outbreak had been handling chicken and beef in the same buckets that it used to make salsa, the head server at the restaurant said. The outbreak in Shiawassee County appears to be over, but 13 people contracted salmonellosis as determined by investigators from the county health department.
Valerie Trujilo, the head server at the Mexican restaurant, told WLNS Channel 6 that a correction has been made so that staff no longer uses the same buckets for meat that it does for salsa and chicken and beef. The same story quoted Courtney Herrick, the director of personal health for Shiawassee County, as saying the health department inspected the restaurant six times since the outbreak, calling for corrections on food safety violations. The restaurant reportedly made the proper adjustments.
Salmonella is a potentially deadly human pathogen with animal origins, especially in poultry. The bacteria is carried in feces and is known to contaminate meat during slaughter and processing. A key food safety measure for all commercial kitchens is to separate raw meat or eggs from any other food and from the utensils and surfaces used to prepare other food . The cross-contamination threat is particularly important when making ready-to-eat foods such as salsa, that require no cooking or kill-step to eliminated possible pathogens, which don’t survive temperatures of 160 degrees and above.
It’s not clear how many victims of the El Potrero Salmonella outbreak were hospitalized, if any. But Salmonella infections can quickly lead to serious illnesses, especially in older adults whose immune systems are weakened or in people who have underlying health problems. One of the health risks faced by all Salmonella outbreak victims is Reactive Arthritis, a painful joint condition that can become chronic and debilitating.
