Ministry for Primary Industries manager of compliance operations Gary Orr said the outbreak started on January 1 and went through to February 10. Of the 26 people who had food poisoning, 16 had eaten at the bakery.
While investigators visited the bakery the day after notification to carry out a review of food handling practices, they were unable to identify the source of the outbreak, he said. As a result MPI declined to name the bakery involved.
“The investigation did not find the definitive source of the Salmonella, so there was no proof that the bakery had done anything wrong,” he said.
Because the investigation did not find the source of the outbreak there was no public warning as there was no way to tell people how to prevent themselves from becoming ill, Mr Orr said. “A number of areas for improvement were identified and follow-up visits by MPI to the bakery confirmed that these improvements had been implemented.”
Once again, epidemiology gets put aside for definitive proof.