Food poisoning outbreak traced to parent-teacher conference buffet

A food poisoning outbreak at an Evanston, Ill., middle school has been traced to improper and unsafe food handling practices.

According to Kansas State University’s BarfBlog, health authorities in Illinois traced a Clostridium perfringens outbreak that sickened 30 people to food served at a parent-teacher conference at Haven Middle School.

Evanston Health Director Evonda Thomas summarized in a report that Merle’s BBQ, a local caterer, and school officials should share blame in the outbreak. Investigators found unsafe food handling practices at the caterer and also determined the food served at the event was not stored at a proper temperature for the duration of the event.

This outbreak highlights the oft-ignored dangers of food served at public events as having a food poisoning risk. In reality however, even a tray of cookies can serve as breeding ground for millions of food-borne pathogens.

In the Illinois case, food was not kept warm by any means at Haven Middle School. Investigation reports show the chicken barbecue served that night from Merle’s likely came from the caterer already contaminated. However, it is likely that perfringens bacteria grew on the food at the school, where it was mostly uncovered and unheated for four hours.

Nausea, fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps are the preliminary signs of food poisoning. If untreated, incidents of food poisoning can cause life-altering injuries or death. The very young, the elderly and those with weak immune systems are most at risk for the most serious food poisoning symptoms.