Viva Mexico! to live again

Viva Mexico, a popular Redwood City-based restaurant was closed down following the death of one person and the injury of more than a hundred others who had recently eaten there. The woman who passed away was Constance Williams-Pennel of Sunnyvale - she died after showing symptoms of Shigellosis. Many of the diners who became ill after eating at Viva Mexico! tested positive of Shigella bacteria. Shigella kills cells lining the colon and causes abdominal bleeding and mucus in the stool.

The restaurant's reopening is contingent upon the strict adherence to an operations manual - it provides Spanish instruction on the proper procedures for sanitizing equipment and utensils, proper hand washing procedures, proper procedures of thawing, cooking, cooling, storing, and re-heating of potentially hazardous foods and food preparation. The restaurant must also keep a written record of temperatures during the cooking, cooling, and re-heating of foods, as well as a written record of equipment sanitation, including date, time and method.

The Health Division will also be keeping a keener eyes on Viva Mexico!, Peterson said. "We will do surveillance through the first month very often, we will look at what they do and how they do it," he said. "After the first month, we will go there six times a month unannounced."

After working with Izabel and Martin Toro, the owners of the establishment, Peterson said he would feel comfortable eating at the restaurant at this point. He said they have been very cooperative with the county. "They have done more than we've asked. They want to have a safe business," Peterson said. "They are optimistic."

It is up to the owners when the restaurant will re-open. "We are satisfied that they have corrected all the violations we found. We have no other legal basis for keeping them closed," Peterson said.

The food borne illness, traced back to the salsa was confirmed as Shigellosis - a bacterial infection. Two hundred and eighteen people have been confirmed ill, 16 uncertain, and 61 people were culture-confirmed as having cases of Shigella.

The one woman who died, Constance Williams-Pennel, was confirmed to have Shigella in her intestinal tract, however, Peterson said they are still waiting to hear from the Santa Clara coroner for the exact reasons of her death.

The Health Division believes that the illness is most likely traced back to either the green onions or the cilantro in the salsa, but they have not ruled out the possibility of worker contamination. However, the workers have tested negative for Shigella, Peterson said.

This outbreak is the largest incident in the county's history. The last outbreak occurred in '95 at the Clarion Hotel in Burlingame in which there were 100 confirmed food poisoning cases but the Health Division never isolated the case to what caused the outbreak.

"This case is fortunate in that we could isolate that it was Shigella," Peterson said, adding that it is often difficult to do this. Peterson said it is rare to close a restaurant down as a result of an outbreak. He said they typically close restaurants down when they find unsanitary conditions.

The Health Division currently has 12 food inspectors for the county and as of Dec. 1 there will be 11, as one just put in resignation forms. Peterson said there are 400 places the Division needs to identify and investigate by Jan. 1. There are 20 places the Division has not visited since '98 and they have completed these inspections. "Of those inspections, no facilities were in such bad array that we would close them down," Peterson said. "We should be out there more."

The procedures for inspections will not change, Peterson said. The Division is however, working towards creating a procedure for how produce should be handled. "We have good procedures for beef and chicken, but we have no good standard way of handling produce," Peterson said.

The case is currently out of the hands of the Division, although they will continue to monitor Viva Mexico! If the restaurant is found to violate the conditions the Division has set for it, the case will go directly to the District Attorney for investigation. Peterson said it would take a combination of violations for it to be shut down again. Currently the District Attorney will decide whether or not to press charges.