Sick workers, contamination, leads to outbreaks of foodborne illnesses at restaurants, CDC says

Sick workers and contaminated food products helped contribute to 800 foodborne illness outbreaks at restaurants nationwide, including 27 on Long Island, between 2017 and 2019, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State Health Department.

The report, which includes data reported to the CDC's National Environmental Assessment Reporting System by 25 state and local health departments, found that 41% of outbreaks were linked to food service workers with an infectious illness and nearly 18% were caused by contaminated raw food. The New York City and State Health Departments contributed data to the report.

Despite the risk of ill employees contaminating food products, only 16% of restaurants with outbreaks have comprehensive policies to prevent staff from working while sick, the study found.

"Although a majority of managers reported their establishment had an ill worker policy, often these policies were missing components intended to reduce foodborne illness risk," wrote CDC researchers, who recommended better enforcement of food safety policies, such as preventing sick employees from coming to work and basic measures such as hand washing. "Contamination of food by ill or infectious food workers is an important cause of outbreaks; therefore, the content and enforcement of existing policies might need to be reexamined and refined."

Norovirus and salmonella, which can cause severe illness, were the most common cause of outbreaks, which were reported in 875 restaurants nationwide. More than 70% of the restaurants linked to the outbreaks had at least one critical violation reported in their last health department inspection, investigators found.

The CDC says there are 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually — the equivalent of sickening 1 in 6 Americans each year — resulting in an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.

Dr. David Hirschwerk, an infectious disease expert and medical director at North Shore University Hospital, said norovirus is an extremely contagious gastrointestinal illness that can be easily transferred through food.

"The report speaks to the fact that sell food handlers can be the source and speaks to the importance of having a process in place that is communicated to workers in food establishments and to try to adhere to those policies," Hirschwerk said.

A State Health Department spokeswoman said the CDC data includes cases of foodborne outbreaks from counties across the state, including 17 in Nassau County and 10 in Suffolk County.

Suffolk Health Department spokeswoman Grace Kelly-McGovern said the county's sanitary code requires food workers to inform a manager when ill and to be excluded from working while exhibiting certain symptoms.

"The code requires food establishment operators to handle food in a manner that prevents illness, such as proper cooking, holding, storage and display, and includes regulations that address safe food sources, employee hygiene and sanitation," Kelly-McGovern said.

In March, Suffolk health officials reported that more than 80 Babylon High School students were out sick, linked to a suspected outbreak of norovirus.

A Nassau Health Department spokeswoman said the agency enforces the state sanitary code, with regulations aimed at reducing foodborne illness, including employee health, temperature controls for potentially hazardous foods and safe food preparation practices. 

While 85% of restaurants have policies preventing staff from working while under the weather, less than one in five included all five critical symptoms that health officials said should mandate workers stay home — vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat with fever and lesion with pus.

One potential culprit, the report suggests, may be financial necessity. More than 55% of restaurant managers with outbreaks told CDC investigators that they do not provide paid sick leave to workers.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.