Kane announces food-safety plans
From a hepatitis A outbreak to salmonella poisonings, the Kane County Health Department has had a busy year responding to food-related health emergencies.
That's why Executive Director Paul Kuehnert announced Tuesday plans to launch a food-safety campaign early next year.
Such a campaign would highlight temperature control, cross-contamination avoidance and proper hand-washing techniques, Kuehnert told the county board, which met as a committee of the whole Tuesday night.
He also wants to hire an additional staff member to conduct inspections, investigations and education initiatives. Salary and benefits for that staff member will largely be covered by licensing fees received from restaurants, festival food vendors and other establishments where food is served.
The hepatitis outbreak, reported in January, stemmed from contaminated ice served by an infected employee at Houlihan's restaurant in Geneva. Health department officials emphasized the importance of hand washing to food service workers after the incident.
More than 2,900 people who ate there during the possible contamination received immunoglobulin shots to protect against the disease. No additional contaminations were reported, but a class-action lawsuit later was filed against the restaurant.
Houlihan's and the Illinois Department of Public Health funded most of the cost of providing the shots, a figure Kuehnert estimated at $200,000. Staff from 10 neighboring health departments helped Kane County health workers administer them.
In March, health department officials traced a salmonella outbreak to an unlicensed Mexican-style cheese sold at local Hispanic grocery stores. The department pulled the cheese from shelves across the county as a precautionary measure after a sample tested positive for the illness. Thirty people reported being infected, but Kuehnert believes the actual number of people affected could be 10 times higher because anecdotal evidence suggests most salmonella victims don't seek medical treatment.