Salmonella Typhimurium was found in frozen uncooked ground beef sampled on March 13 and Salmonella Heidelberg was found in raw Halal chicken sampled on March 15, Ottawa health officials say.
While Salmonella was not isolated from any other food samples collected from March 12 to 15, the laboratory results pretty well connect an Ottawa catering company to responsibility for an outbreak in Canada’s federal capital.
Known as “The Lunch Lady,” the business serves the day care or one of the schools where at least 46 children, ages 15 months to 18 years old, were stricken with Salmonella infections. At least four adults were also ill, and two of those were thought to be connected to the school cases.
Three of children required hospital care earlier in the month, but have since been released.
The Lunch Lady, which operates kitchens at a Boyd Avenue location, suspended operations while the investigation continues. Addition testing is underway in a Salmonella outbreak that has kept about a dozen city health officials busy for the last three weeks.