Each week after state health inspections in South Florida
restaurants are posted here, readers invariably fight amongst
themselves about whether our government is overreaching into the
private sphere by attempting to monitor food safety for the
public. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has
reported about restaurant food poisoning in recent years and
I’ve excerpted their bullet points about notable outbreaks: -
Massachusetts, June 1996. Food contaminated with salmonella that
was served in a Wendy’s restaurant in suburban Boston sickened
38 people and may have contributed to a death. Investigators
determined that the outbreak was caused by employees who did not
wash their hands before handling food. - Idaho, September 1995.
At least 11 cases of illness due to E. coli O157:H7 were traced
to food eaten in a Chili’s restaurant in Boise. The primary
source of the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria is beef, but in this
outbreak, authorities believe raw beef carrying the bacteria
probably cross-contaminated other f