Salmonella shuts two Canberra cafés
Two Canberra cafes have been shut down because of an outbreak of salmonella.
The two cafes are Ricardo's in Jamison and the Central Cafe in Gungahlin.
Health inspectors had found problems "related with food handling processes and procedures" at both cafes, ACT Health Protection Services (HPS) said in a statement.
The statement said: "The cafes will be closed until such time as the identified issues have been rectified."
HPS would not identify how many people had been affected by the outbreak while inspectors were still conducting the investigation.
However, the outbreak of illness was highlighted in posts on social media.
Ricardo’s owner cafe's owner Ricardo De Marco put out a statement last week saying salmonella had been discovered on a used dishcloth and tea towel earlier in the week.
He said the cafe had now been cleaned.
He said salmonella had not been found on the cafe's equipment, ingredients or surfaces.
“Instead of allowing us to sanitise our restaurant and change our policies in relation to the use of these items, we were closed down at 5:00pm on Tuesday, 14 February," the statement said.
"The following day, our team attended the restaurant and threw out all food items and undertook a full sanitisation of our premises. Later that day ACT Health attended and took a full sample of swabs from across all areas of our restaurant.
"We look forward to receiving a full clearance from ACT Health so we can begin operating as soon as possible."
Central Cafe owner Yaman Kasirga blamed it on last week's heatwave.
“The cool room probably couldn't cope with it. As you know all the food comes from the cool room," Mr Kasirga told the ABC.
"It was a very hot day when (the health inspectors) arrived. 41 degrees [Celsius] ... that was one of the major issues.
"I apologise to our customers, to our dear clients. Thank them for their support and their patience but trust me we'll be back on the road."
by Leon Gettler, February 20th 2017
