Did 57 Zappos Employees Get Food Poisoning?
Almost 60 Zappos employees suffered symptoms of food poisoning yesterday at the company's plant in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. They had all eaten food brought in by a catering company, but Bullitt County Health officials have not determined if it was food poisoning. 28 of the employees were hospitalized.
Dangerous foodborne pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella have longer incubation periods. Someone isn’t going to eat something contaminated with E. coli and get sick on the same day.
Both epidemiological and microbiological testing is being done to determine what made the 57 Zappos employees vomit and have diarrhea. The epidemiological part of the investigation involves interviews with those sickened to find out what they ate in the last several days. The microbiological part of the investigation involves tests to determine what foodborne pathogen, if any, made the employees sick and tests on food samples from the caterer.
Dr. Swannie Jett, the Bullitt County Health Department Director, told WDRB that the company had a pot luck over the weekend and that event is being considered as the possible source of the outbreak. Given the incubation period of most foodborne pathogens, that seems a more likely cause of the illnesses.
The health department also told WDRB that it is looking into the possibility the illness could also be airborne or caused by an employee coming to work sick.
