Subway is working to ensure its customers that the food in its restaurants is safe, even as the number of confirmed cases in a salmonella outbreak in Illinois is now at 80. The Illinois Department of Public Health has confirmed cases of the rare strain of salmonella hvittingfoss in those people. The victims, ages 2 and 79, ate at various Subway restaurants in 26 Illinois counties earlier this month.
The Subway restaurant chain voluntarily replaced all fresh lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and other produce from its Illinois restaurants in early June and has cooperated with officials in the investigation. Although investigators have yet to announce the source of the outbreak, Subway has issued a statement of apology, according to Food Safety News.
From the story:
We sincerely apologize to all Subway customers, those who have fallen ill, and those who now may hesitate to come back for a while. We are truly sorry for the difficulty this situation has caused you, our customer, and are working diligently to solve this mystery and to regain your trust.While we are committed to work with the health department to pin down a specific cause, people should know that we are confident that it is safe to eat in our restaurants. Any produce in question was removed a few weeks ago, and we have been using new, fresh produce.
Protection in a foodborne illness outbreak
Ensuring customers that the chain's food is safe is an important step in crisis management during a foodborne illness outbreak, said Pamela Ritz, president of Specialty Risk Management in a webinar on dealing with such crises.
In the webinar "Restaurant Crisis Management: How to Protect Yourself during a Foodborne Illness Incident," Ritz explains that for a national brand, such a crisis goes well beyond the individual stores involved and can impact stores across the country. Operators systemwide can lose revenue as customer trust deteriorates.
Protecting a store or brand from a foodborne illness requires safe food handling procedures as well as the proper insurance coverage, which goes beyond commercial property and worker's comp insurance, she said. Business interruption coverage and extra expense coverage policies can provide immediate access to a team of crisis management professionals and help provide compensation for related expenses and lost profit.
Click here for a replay of the webinar.
