A food poisoning outbreak sickened 150 inmates at Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson, MI who, in a scene right of the Shawshank Redemption, were served food crawling with maggots. Twice in one week. The outbreak leads this month’s edition of the Neews, food safety stories that put the eew in news.
The Parnall outbreak focussed attention on Philadelphia food service provider Aramak which has drawn fire from politicians and families of inmates for longstanding problems. Michigan Corrections Organization (MCO) union, SEIU Local 526M had been reporting problems with the company for weeks before the outbreak. One letter writer to Food Poisoning Bulletin who has a loved one at Parnall said the facility often serves the inmates rotten food and runs out of food at mealtimes. Mark Schauer the Democratic candidate for governor, has called on Governor Rick Snyder to end the three year contract the state has with Aramark.
Other stories in the Neews this month come restaurant inspection reports around the country. At Lelene’s in Mattapan, Mass., for example, inspectors found food held at unsafe temperatures, grease build up on equipment in a kitchen that was “very odorous” and had “floors coated with a visible sludge-like material.”
Fan Fan Bakery in Mattapan had its permit suspended until it could prove that an active sewage leak in the basement had been corrected.
At Twin City Supermarket in Union City, NJ, inspectors found that “a walk-in fridge was rusty and moldy and raw and bloody meats were stored on a shelf above a shelf of vegetables. A cook was seen using his bare hands to mix a bowl of beans and cheese. A fly trap was located above fruit platters. And human feces was smeared all over a toilet and floor of the men’s restroom, which the inspector said was immediately cleaned.”
And the manager at Ollies Neighborhood Grill in Milton, Fla. answers the question: how many cockroaches does it take to create a “major issue” at a restaurant? More than 40 live and 100 dead is what inspectors found there. But, according to the manager, the 24-hour closure required to kill the roaches was a sign that the problem was not out of hand.
