Green Onions Pulled From Chi-Chi's Menu NationwidePittsburgh Blog |
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November 13, 2003Green Onions Pulled From Chi-Chi's Menu NationwideThe number of people confirmed to have contracted hepatitis A after eating at the Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurant in the Beaver Valley Mall has risen to 410, including two fatalities. In response, the company has decided to voluntarily remove green onions from every menu item at every location in the Chi-Chi's restaurant chain. "Our decision today reflects the fact that contaminated green onions are the prime suspect of recent Hepatitis A outbreaks in various other states. Our primary concern has been and continues to be to protect the health, safety and well being of our guests, our employees and the local community," said Bill Zavertnik, Chief Operating Officer of Chi-Chi's, Inc. in a press release. "We have no definitive information that green onions were involved in this outbreak. But out of an abundance of caution we have decided to remove this ingredient from our menu, including its use as a garnish, in salsa and cooked dishes." It is important to note that no Chi-Chi's location outside of the Beaver Valley location in Western Pennsylvania has been involved in the Hepatitis A outbreak. The Beaver Valley Chi-Chi's, site of the outbreak, has been shut down for at least the next 60 days. Public health officials estimate that 11,000 people might have been exposed to hepatitis A at Chi-Chi's between Oct. 1 and Nov. 2. Over 8,500 presented themselves at a free clinic set up at the Beaver County Community College for preventative shots of immune globulin. The shots are only effective in staving off the disease if given within two weeks of exposure, and aren't 100% effective. The State Health Department office in Vanport, Beaver County, will continue to provide hepatitis A shots for those who think they need one. A cause of the outbreak has not yet been determined, but health officials are now focusing on contaminated food delivered to the Beaver County restaurant as a more likely suspect in the ongoing hepatitis A outbreak than poor worker hygiene as originally suspected. Federal officials describe the outbreak as one of the worst ever, noting that hepatitis A outbreaks contained to a single restaurant typically impact between 25 and 200 people. The largest hepatitis A outbreak on record occured in 1988 when almost 300,000 people in China ate contaminated clams. In 1997, frozen strawberries caused 262 people in five states to become infected with the virus. Last month, a Hepatitis A outbreak in several restaurants in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee was linked to shipments of green onions. Hepatitis A is spread by eating something contaminated with the feces of someone with hepatitis A, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Infection with Hepatitis A typically causes a flu-like illness with yellowing of the skin, nausea, and vomiting, fatigue and diarrhea. The disease usually clears up in about two months, and most patients recover with no serious long-term health problems. |
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