ONTARIO: University reopens eatery at centre of campus outbreak

18.nov.08
Guelph Mercury
Vik Kirsch

The University of Guelph was set to reopen its Pita Pit fast food franchise yesterday.
"We could see no reason to keep it closed," university spokesperson Chuck Cunningham
said.
Seven university students became ill with a potentially dangerous strain of E. coli
O157 after eating romaine lettuce served at the University Centre food court eatery
since Oct. 21.
"It's the common link in terms of most confirmed cases," Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph
Public Health investigator Cameron Clark said.
The seven ill students are in addition to 51 probable cases locally that provincial
and federal health authorities continue to investigate.
Romaine lettuce is also suspected to be the cause of similar outbreaks in Waterloo,
Halton and Niagara regions, which brought the total Friday to 29 confirmed and 119
probable cases, according to the provincial Ministry of Health website.
The romaine lettuce appears to have originated from American growers and was shipped
north, Clark said. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is pursuing this lead with
U.S. health authorities.
But to date, no source has been definitively identified. He said it's difficult to
positively identify the infection points "without that missing link . . . that
smoking gun."
"We're not serving lettuce on campus," Cunningham said. "We know the investigation's
still ongoing."