Food-borne illnesses prompt fine at Niagara Frontier Country Club
LOCKPORT — The Niagara County Health Department fined the Niagara Frontier Country Club $500 after an inspection held in the wake of an outbreak of food-borne illness there, the county Board of Health was told Thursday.
Environmental Health Director James J. Devald said the fine was for improper chilling of roast beef, found during the subsequent inspection, and for not reporting the April 29 and May 1 outbreaks soon enough. The country club was alerted by a member May 2, his report said.
By the time the department was informed May 7, the people who got sick after two golf banquets at the Town of Porter club were well again, and thus testing couldn’t find the source of the problem.
Devald said, “We don’t think it was the food. We think it was the workers.”
Devald said that four employees of the country club who became ill soon after the events were working on food preparation for both dinners, which were held April 29 and May 1.
“Both chefs were ill during the May 1 buffet preparation,” he said.
Two servers became ill May 2 and 3, and one chef reported symptoms April 30. They reported the same type of symptoms the guests later had.
A survey of the guest list for the April 29 women’s golf dinner showed 23 of the 27 women became ill, reporting nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramps. After the May 1 men’s buffet, 11 of 46 guests became ill.
On another food topic, Devald said the state Health Department has revised its advisory on eating Chinook salmon caught in Lake Ontario. Where the state had previously advised that no one eat that fish, the department now says there should be a limit of one meal of per month.
“New data shows that PCB and pesticide levels are decreasing in Lake Ontario,” Devald said.
Also Thursday, the board voted to increase fees for immunizations administered at the county’s health clinics.
Typical price hikes, effective Tuesday, include $4 for flu shots, to $35; $5 for hepatitis A, to $45; and $7 for hepatitis B, to $52. Rabies shots will cost $152 each, a $5 increase, while the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine will rise $7, to $71 a shot.
Public Health Director Daniel
J. Stapleton reported on 2009 budget challenges, telling the board that state aid is being cut 2 percent, and reimbursements for early intervention and preschool special-education are dropping even more.
