The City of Sunnyvale was rocked when news broke that patrons of the Greasy Spoon had become ill with E. coli infections. Despite its name, the restaurant had the reputation of having the cleanest kitchen in town and had received an A+ on its most recent inspection, which was posted on the City’s Website just days before the outbreak. In fact, Sunnyvale Environmental Health regularly held its annual End of the Year party at the Greasy Spoon because of its stellar reputation. The outbreak investigation took weeks to conduct, but the Sunnyvale Health Department and Sunnyvale Environmental Health final outbreak report pointed to cross-contamination between raw ground beef and fresh (irradiated) mango in the restaurant kitchen. Hours after the report was issued, Greasy Spoon owners, management, and staff appeared on local television to apologize for the outbreak and express their concern for victims. Meanwhile, Sunnyvale Environmental Health was served with a lawsuit filed by a plaintiff whose 3-year-old son had been hospitalized for 3 weeks with HUS. In an interview with a local TV station, the plaintiff explained that he was suing Sunnyvale Environmental Health rather than the meat producer or the Greasy Spoon because he had relied on the City’s posted restaurant inspection what he was led to believe was a safe place to take his son to dinner. He claimed he never ate anywhere that had received less than an A+ on an inspection and that the health department’s failure to prevent cross-contamination at the restaurant led to his son’s illness. Sunnyvale Environmental Health’s restaurant inspectors were left scratching their heads. Did giving the Greasy Spoon a perfect score just days before the cross-contamination happened constitute a failure of some sort that left the City open to lawsuits? Food safety attorney Bill Marler will address this question and more.
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