Over 160 sickened after eating at OLIVE GARDEN

[philosophie_en_rose]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16223079/

INDIANAPOLIS - The Marion County Health Department says more than 160 people have claimed they became ill after eating at an Olive Garden restaurant in Indianapolis last weekend.

A health department spokesman says they're trying to isolate the cause and have found no health code violations at the restaurant on the city's north side. Health officials are collecting leftover food and stool samples from those who were stricken in an effort to pinpoint the source of the illness.

A spokesman for Olive Garden was not immediately available for comment.

[LostinVA]

1. At least we know they didn't OD on garlic n/t

[Starbucks Anarchist]

2. Or authenticity.

:hi:

[LostinVA]

10. True

Even your GF Rachael Ray would agree -- she's Sicilian-American.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

12. Hilarious irony regarding her -- check your PM in a few minutes.

[LostinVA]

17. Okay!

[bicentennial_baby]

28. See my sig for RayRay's response:

:D

[johnnie]

3. Psuedo - talianitis?

:shrug:

[philosophie_en_rose]

4. Hospital-iano

:rofl:

[Richardo]

7. .

:D:thumbsup:

[JVS]

14. Doh! You beat me to it

[Hugin]

5. "officials are collecting leftover food and stool samples"

I absolutely refuse to post what I'm thinking here.

[MrCoffee]

8. i'm shameless...

without the labels, will they be able to tell the difference?

[Hugin]

15. !

:spank:

[JVS]

16. LOL

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

23. Leftover stool samples?

Left over from what?

Would you like a doggy bag?

[Jimbo S]

32. Watching Borat again?

[Richardo]

6. Wait a sec....

OK I'm ready.

[underpants]

9. You don't get more bland middle America than and that

and Olive Garden in Indianapolis.

'cept maybe the Cracker Barrel

[LostinVA]

13. But the CB revels in its bland "Middle America" image

I'll give them that.

[JVS]

11. HOSPITALiano! Yum!

[Lautremont]

18. I think that headline is unfair to Olive Garden.

Their tally is way, way higher than 160.

[Elidor]

19. Leftover stool samples

There's some imagery for you. Gathering dust in a back room somewhere, next to the canned tomato paste, perhaps.

Insomnia has made me totally loopy.

[ContraBass Black]

20. So, what do you people think of Carraba's?

[Richardo]

21. carraba's is above reproach

Especially their restaurant called 'Piattos' by the Galleria (Houston)

[ContraBass Black]

24. If memory serves, the first Norovirus outbreak in the US

Was at Carraba's.

[Richardo]

27. I wasn't there, and their food is delicious.

So I guess I don't care. :)

[leftofthedial]

22. must have been the soup bar

olive garden soup bar

olive garden

[peekaloo]

25. Damn you never ending soup and pasta bowels!

:dunce:

[Crabby Appleton]

26. Only 160 sickened ? that's quite an improvement.

The manager will probably get a big bonus.

[chaska]

29. Article: Has Politics Contaminated the Food Supply?

It's the same theme over and over again: the race to the bottom. This is what happens when you "run government like a business". Get the goddamn business men the fuck out of government, and run government as if peoples lives are at stake cause, guess what, they are.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1211-21.htm

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 76 million Americans are sickened, 325,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die each year because of something they ate.

Part of the problem is that the government’s food-safety system is underfinanced, poorly organized and more concerned with serving private interests than with protecting public health. It is time for the new Democratic Congress to reverse a decades-long weakening of regulations and face up to the food-safety threats of the 21st century.

(snip)

Over the past 40 years, the industrialization and centralization of our food system has greatly magnified the potential for big outbreaks. Today only 13 slaughterhouses process the majority of the beef consumed by 300 million Americans.

And the fast-food industry’s demand for uniform products has encouraged centralization in every agricultural sector. Fruits and vegetables are now being grown, packaged and shipped like industrial commodities. As a result, a little contamination can go a long way. The Taco Bell distribution center in New Jersey now being investigated as a possible source of E. coli supplies more than 1,100 restaurants in the Northeast.

While threats to the food supply have been growing, food-safety regulations have been weakened. Since 2000, the fast-food and meatpacking industries have given about four-fifths of their political donations to Republican candidates for national office. In return, these industries have effectively been given control of the agencies created to regulate them.

(snip)

Cutbacks in staff and budgets have reduced the number of food-safety inspections conducted by the F.D.A. to about 3,400 a year — from 35,000 in the 1970s. The number of inspectors at the Agriculture Department has declined to 7,500 from 9,000.

[Hugin]

31. Thanks for the info chaska...

Very informative.

[matcom]

30. HAHAHAHAHA

ABONDANZA!