Oakland Restaurant Reopens After E. Coli Investigation
OAKLAND (KDKA) – An E. coli outbreak linked to a restaurant in Oakland sickened five people this month. Today, the restaurant reopened and the Health Department has not nailed down the source of the E. coli.
The Porch reopened for lunch today in Schenley Plaza after the Allegheny County Health Department deemed it is safe for people to dine at the restaurant once again.
The Porch closed on Wednesday and they scrubbed the restaurant down and brought some fresh food in from a new distributor.
In addition, employees from other restaurants are staffing The Porch today. The regular employees of The Porch cannot come back until they are screened for the E. coli bacteria.
The help department revealed yesterday that e.coli outbreak.
"It's an ongoing investigation and so we are looking into a variety of things. Whether it's from the meat itself or whether it's from potentially someone having a hand connection," Health Director Dr. Karen Hacker said.
The first infection was reported on Oct. 1. From there, it took a while to determine there was an E. coli infection.
It also took time to connect the dots between the five people who were infected to trace it back to the restaurant.
While officials are still investigating the exact cause, it is believed that it may be contaminated meat.
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