View report page

30
13 persons (7 staff, three canteen helpers and three pupils) had
suffered from diarrhoea during the night 10/llth May None of the
persons affected received medical attention and all were better
by the next morning. All had eaten the school dinner on the day
before, as indeed had 250 other people. Asample dinner consisting
of roast veal, vegetables, stewed apricots and custard had been
set aside and saved and this meal was submitted for examination
to the Public Health Laboratory Service, A report was subseouently
received that a small number of Staphylococcus Aureus had been
isolated on the roast veal. None of the food handlers appeared
to be suffering from any condition which might lead to this kind
of Infection.
The outbreak was a minor one and apart from the fact that a
measure of distress was suffered by a small number of people it
was not of great importance. It cannot be over-stressed, however,
that if all who handled the food had exercised scrupulous personal
cleanliness the outbreak would not have occurred.