Tavern may reopen pending inspection results

More than a week after voluntarily closing his restaurant amid concerns that health code violations left some customers sick with salmonella, Tavern owner Shelly Gordon said the eatery is close to re-opening.

Gordon said Monday morning that his restaurant, located on Emmet Street in Charlottesville, will need re-inspection by health officials after he and his workers spent the last week trying to come into compliance with health codes.

Gordon said the restaurant could reopen by Wednesday.

Inspectors began investigating the restaurant on July 24 after being contacted by a local physician, Thomas Jefferson Health District pathologist Elizabeth Davies said.Davies said her office then asked all other local physicians to report treating patients with symptoms of having contracted salmonella.

As of Monday morning, nine cases of salmonella had been confirmed by lab tests.

NBC29 originally brought the claims of salmonella poisoning at the restaurant to light last week.

The local health district’s report from an inspection done July 24 shows the restaurant was cited with four critical violations, three of which were corrected while inspectors were at the restaurant.

One of the critical violations reported was for a hand-washing violation and another one was for a dishwasher who was not properly sanitizing pans before they were reused. Both were reportedly corrected during inspection.

While it’s possible to spread salmonella from person to person through direct contact, health officials believe that all of the people poisoned ate at the restaurant recently.Salmonella is caused by a bacteria generally associated with food’s contact with feces and is often found contaminating raw meats, eggs, unpasteurized milk and cheeses.

The bacteria usually starts affecting those infected within 72 hours.

“We definitely believe that that there is no more risk to the public at this point,” Davies said.

Davies is not identifying the source of the salmonella because the investigation isn’t completed.

U.S. health officials have struggled since June to identify the source of a salmonella outbreak that has affected an estimated 1,300 people nationwide.

Officials at first believed tomatoes were the culprits, but in July the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the tomatoes and has since focused its attention on hot peppers from Mexico.

The tomato scare is believed to have cost the produce industry an estimated $200 million.