Campers and staff ill at Ottawa day camp

When I was a kid I used to do a couple of weeks of day camp during the summer – stuff like a week of sports or science. I always kind of wished that I had the overnight-out-of-the-city experience like in Indian Summer – but after camping later in life, I’m okay with missing out. The day camps I went too weren’t all fancy-pants catered (I just brought a packed lunch).

According to CBC, an Ottawa (that’s in Canada) day camp that uses a local caterer is dealing with what looks like an outbreak after almost 30 kids and staff fell ill this week.Indian_Summer_1993

Six children were transported to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario for treatment, and later released.

Ottawa Public Health said it is investigating the reported illness of 19 children and 8 adults at Tian Tian Chinese Summer Camp. Paramedics said there were 89 children attending the camp.

Ottawa Public Health has collected food samples from St. Cecilia School on Cambrian Rd, where the camp was taking place. It also collected samples from a restaurant that provided food to the camp. The lab is expected to have results in about a week.

“When we’re investigating any kind of potential food borne illness, we really look at all the possible steps in the preparation of the food, as well as, in this situation, we’d be looking at how the food was transported, how it was served, were there any issues or illnesses in the food handlers,” said Dr. Carolyn Pim of Ottawa Public Health.

“It’s not only the actual preparation at the restaurant, but really from the time it’s prepared to the time it’s eaten.”

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About Ben Chapman

Dr. Ben Chapman is a professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University. As a teenager, a Saturday afternoon viewing of the classic cable movie, Outbreak, sparked his interest in pathogens and public health. With the goal of less foodborne illness, his group designs, implements, and evaluates food safety strategies, messages, and media from farm-to-fork. Through reality-based research, Chapman investigates behaviors and creates interventions aimed at amateur and professional food handlers, managers, and organizational decision-makers; the gate keepers of safe food. Ben co-hosts a biweekly podcast called Food Safety Talk and tries to further engage folks online through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and, maybe not surprisingly, Pinterest. Follow on Twitter @benjaminchapman.