October 14, 2009Fans of Ruby Chinese Restaurant will have to wait a while longer for their dim sum, according to this morning's report from Toronto Public Health.
Ruby was closed by Public Health officials on October 7th after failing an inspection. The inspection was triggered by an outbreak of Salmonella that sickened as many as 38 restaurant patrons (22 confirmed and an additional 16 probable cases). One elderly man died.
The restaurant failed a re-inspection on October 9th, and was not allowed to reopen. Toronto Public Health says that the ball is now in firmly in Ruby's court. Restaurant management is giving the city daily updates on its clean-up progress, and will advise Public Health when it believes that Ruby is ready for another inspection.
The health department plans to monitor Ruby closely after the restaurant reopens, and will ensure that all of the food handlers receive additional training in food safety. Still unanswered, though, is how Ruby Chinese Restaurant managed to pass an inspection in late August – a couple of weeks before the reported September 12th start of the outbreak – and also pass an inspection on September 29th, just nine days after the outbreak ended.
How many other risky restaurants are slipping through the system? Should Toronto's DineSafe program be renamed DineSick?
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I thought the October 10th issue of the Globe and Mail was ironic - a glorious Joanne Kates restaurant review of Ruby's (it's a "gem") in the Style section, yet in another section: a small box informing the public that, oh by the way, Ruby's is closed until it cleans up its dangerous kitchen.
ReplyDeleteWhy on earth didn't the G&M just pull the review?