Salmonella Outbreak Kills Scarborough Restaurant

October 19, 2009

The owners of Ruby Chinese Restaurant (1571 Sandhurst Circle, Scarborough, Ontario) announced today that the east-end Toronto restaurant will not reopen.

The restaurant closed October 7th after Toronto Public Health officials linked it to an outbreak of Salmonella that has sickened as many as 43 victims – 21 confirmed and 22 suspected. Three restaurant patrons have been hospitalized and one elderly man died as a result of his illness.

Ruby failed a followup inspection on October 9th, because cockroaches were still in residence in the premises. According to The Toronto Star, a pest control firm advised the owners "...that ending the cockroach problem would require treating the entire single-storey strip mall..." in which the restaurant is located.

This raises the question of whether any other restaurants are operating in that same strip mall. A check on Google Maps reveals the presence of Xe Lua Restaurant‎ at the same address. According to Toronto's DineSafe web site, Xe Lua Vietnamese Cuisine, located at 1571 Sandhurst Circle, is inspected three times a year – most recently on August 18, 2009. The restaurant has passed all of its inspections, with no violations indicated in the on-line report – not even a cockroach.

Given the ease with which Ruby passed its August and September inspections, might we suggest that Toronto Public Health revisit Xe Lua, just to be on the safe side?