Over 300 People Ill after dining at Olive Garden
By Jshean20
@Jshean20 (14349)
Canada
December 16, 2006 1:13am CST
That's right, over 300 people fell ill with reports of nausea, vomiting, fever and diarrhea after eating at an Olive Garden restaurant in Indianapolis. Did you guys hear about this? It was all over the news today. Are you/were you a fan of Olive Garden? Will you still eat there after this little episode? What do you think could've caused such a problem to happen? Do you think health regulations could have anything to do with it? Besides this particular case, have you ever heard of so many people getting sick at once from a restaurant? What was the restaurant?
8 people like this
51 responses
@cindyngeorge (333)
• United States
16 Dec 06
I love the Olive Garden. I've never had a problem eating there before. I will continue to eat there til it happens to me. I absolutely love their food. It is so delicious. I am in Chicago Illinois. I haven't heard nothing yet here.
1 person likes this
@shywolf (4514)
• United States
1 Jan 07
I have never been to eat at an Olive Garden restaurant, but I did hear the news. I am greatful that nothing like this has been reported here where I live in Missouri. We do have local Olive Garden restaurants here, and I have to admit that hearing this news didn't do anything to encourage me to sample their food. *laugh*
@thisisrightnow (537)
• United States
16 Dec 06
I hadn't heard of that, but that is crazy. That's similiar to the incident I read where they had to temporarily shut down 15 Taco Bells in Philly, and a few in Deleware, because people were getting sick, and one girl was even hospitalized. They believed it to be the green onions so they pulled those. I guess the health department went to go visit the plant that packages the green onions, cause they think bacteria might have gotten on them.
1 person likes this
@dlucia (208)
• United States
17 Dec 06
Taco Hell (Bell) has a very bad reputation for people getting sick eating their food. Here in my town in Missouri, about every other month, an ambulance pulls up in front of our Taco Bell and I refuse to eat their food, simply because I dont care for Mexican food. Says a lot for their health inspectors. Wondering just how fresh their food really is.
@kesfylstra (1868)
• United States
16 Dec 06
I did hear about that on a promo for the news, I thought it was local to where I am in Virginia. I feel a little better now. I think I will still eat there, because it seems to have been a localized thing. After all, I had just been talking to a family who are at an OG here like at the same time, and they are fine.
@killailla (1301)
• Canada
17 Dec 06
I have an olive garden by my house, they dont take reservations and they warn you to expect to wait at least 45 minutes for a table, it is sooooo popular. We are in Canada so we never heard anything about it, however 300 people is a lot, and even if it was not their fault(obviously it was lol ) I would never be able to eat there again, i will always think about this! Yuck
1 person likes this
@hotredblnd788 (224)
• United States
16 Dec 06
That sucks. It's my favorite restaurant. I would have to say I would still go eat there though and hope it doesn't happen to me. Could have been some bad cheese or something. I don't live in that state or by it so I don't think I have any worries.
1 person likes this
@FraYFaN09 (1558)
• United States
16 Dec 06
Wow.... that's the second case I've heard about in the last month... the other one was about Taco Bell.... this didn't happened where I was but I'm still kinda of cautious now. It's a shame this stuff happens b/c it hurts businesses and I like both Olive Garden and Taco Bell. I think I'll still eat there but like I said I'll be very cautious.
@chance00 (3331)
• United States
17 Dec 06
This will alway be a problem for the restaurant industry.No matter how clean you are or what yo do there is some risk of sickness.I have seen te same thing on cruise ships as well.Where you have losts of people and large number of food and drinks you willget illness from time to time.
1 person likes this
@michele609 (1687)
• United States
16 Dec 06
Well I didnt hear about this one but I did hear about the people that got really sick in NJ when eating at Toco Bell!
@brendalee (6082)
• United States
16 Dec 06
I don't know all the details but there was a recent case like this involving Taco Bell here in New York. They did tests and claimed it was from the lettuce. I believe but I am not sure, it was from the same company that had a problem with the spinach awhile ago. I know I will never eat lettuce again from anywhere.
@brendalee (6082)
• United States
16 Dec 06
I found the article. Hopefully the link works.
http://health.iwon.com/article/id/536490.html
@brendalee (6082)
• United States
16 Dec 06
Oops, I guess it was the green onions. I could have swore they said lettuce.
@babykay (2131)
• Ireland
17 Dec 06
Gross. I did not hear of this, however similar incidents I have heard of. I have noticed that it invariably involves people consuming a meat dish or something with cheese or eggs. This is one of the reasons why I never consume any flesh and limit my consumption of eggs and dairy.
@CheckNitout (853)
• United States
16 Dec 06
No I didn't hear about thios but thanks for the tip. I haven't of this many people getting sick except for the people on the cruise ships. I personally will eat there because I live in a different state so I'm not worried about it.
@Freespirit (593)
•
16 Dec 06
I have never been there, as its too far from England to go for a night out!!
For our protection, All restaurants should be health Inspected at least once a month. Calls should be made without prior warning.
They should be made aware that they will be closed down within the hour if there is any health hazard at all.
@simran1430 (1790)
• India
8 Feb 07
Do you realize the many ways that bacteria can contaminatethe food YOUR FAMILY eats? Do you know how to tell if yourfood is THOROUGHLY cooked to keep YOUR family safe from FoodPoisoning? Do you know what to do if you or SOMEONE YOU LOVEgets Food Poisoning?Make sure you have the right equipment, including cuttingboards, utensils, food thermometers, cookware, shallowcontainers for storage, soap, and paper towels. Make sureyou have a source of clean water. Plan ahead to ensure thatthere will be adequate storage space in the refrigerator andfreezer.
@GrammaFood (716)
• United States
17 Dec 06
I haven't heard about that one. But we just had on the news about people getting sick at "Taco Bell". They think it had to do with the green onions. It makes me think twice about going out to eat now. A couple of weeks ago my son had food poisoning from eating "Tuna" at a "Subway" in one of our malls. I reported it and you think they would of at least apologized but i never even received a response. It will be a long time before they get my business again.
@jino_jacob (135)
• India
1 Jan 07
well you know what?the restaurant will be forced to shut down by the authorities so there is no question of eating again.
@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
1 Jan 07
It is really an epidemic in our country....folks becoming sick after eating out. We simply must have stricter inspections of the places from which restaurants buy their supplies! As for restaurant inspections, here in my town, the health department tells the restaurant when they are coming to do an inspection. Of course the owner has the place in tip/top shape and ready for inspection. Geeze....
