Hepatitis A Outbreak at Boston Quizno's Shows Need for Safe Food Handling

A foodborne illness is a disease caused by ingesting tainted or contaminated food. An incident involving two or more people who contract similar foodborne illnesses after eating the same food product is known as a foodborne disease outbreak. Symptoms of foodborne illness usually include vomiting, diarrhea, fever, stomach pain, headache or other maladies. Although foodborne illness is completely preventable through proper handling of food and proper sanitation and personal hygiene, the CDC continues to report outbreaks of bacteria, parasitic and viral infections such as Hepatitis A every year. One such Hepatitis A outbreak occurred in June of 2004 in Boston, Washington at a Quizno's restaurant.

Hepatitis A is spread most often through the poor hygiene of food preparers who have the disease. Since Hepatitis A can be spread through fecal contamination, a food service employee who is or may be infected must be sure to wash his or her hands and nails thoroughly, or else risk infecting others. Foods harvested from or washed with contaminated water can also spread the virus, which can cause an infected person to experience fever, jaundice, swelling of the liver, fatigue, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, dark urine, loss of appetite and other uncomfortable symptoms. Typically, an infected person is contagious for about one week before he or she begins having symptoms and for about two weeks after. Since it can take up to six weeks for a person to exhibit symptoms following exposure to HAV, hand-washing and good hygiene are always important for every food preparer in every food establishment.

In mid-June, 2004 in Boston, it was discovered that a female employee of a local Quizno's Sub Shop had tested positive for the Hepatitis A virus. Officials determined that between the dates of June 17 and June 19, over 800 people had eaten at the sub shop while the woman was working and could potentially have been exposed and infected. The owner immediately closed the shop to inoculate all of its employees, throw out all of its food, and sanitize all food preparation areas to eliminate any lingering traces of the virus, even though the shop was given the OK to continue operating following an inspection.

In the days following the incident, the Boston Public Health Commission issued a statement alerting the public of the possibility of Hepatitis A infections in any customer who ate at Quizno's July 17-19, and advised that anyone who may have been at risk should receive an injection of immune globulin before the end of the month. The Commission held free clinics in the following days and administered about 850 immune globulin shots, which can stop the infection of the virus or at least minimize the severity of the symptoms if received within two weeks of exposure.

A food safety attorney named Marler Clark eventually filed a class action suit against the company seeking compensation for the damages (including lost wages, harm and emotional distress) inflicted on those who received the inoculations. The company agreed with no complaint and went so far as to also reimburse the Boston Public Health Commission for the cost of the free shots and clinics. Clark was pleased by the outcome, but still insists that employee vaccinations against Hepatitis A should be mandatory in food establishments, or else the incident will continue to repeat itself in different cities and different restaurants.

The main lesson to be learned by this case is that when dealing with foodborne illness, one can never be too careful. Though the closing of the restaurant, the tossing of the remaining food and mass inoculations may seem a bit overboard, the alternative to such caution can result in a very devastating, expensive and miserable foodborne disease outbreak. Hopefully, restaurant owners in the Boston area took heed of this lesson and took steps to prevent a repeat of the Quizno's event