Food Outbreak Plea

Brantford, ON – Today, at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brantford, Lana Plank of Lana Plank Catering pled guilty to the charge of:

• “Selling or offering for sale food that is unfit for human consumption by reason of disease, adulteration, impurity or other cause, contrary to section 17 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act, R.S.O. 1990, c H.7, as amended”

“I’d like to commend our staff for their hard work on this incident,” says Jeff Kowal, Manager, Environmental Health. “This was a prime example of the important role the Health Unit plays in investigating cases of food-borne illness to keep our community safe and healthy.”  

The charge resulted from a food-borne illness outbreak that followed a Brant Family and Children’s Services staff luncheon last year on Sept. 10, 2015, where approximately 94 people who attended the event became ill.

“Food safety is an important aspect of public health protection, and something we take seriously,” says Kowal. “Food service workers need to use safe food handling practices to prevent food-borne illnesses.”

The Brant County Health Unit advised anyone hiring a caterer to visit http://inspectionreports.bchu.org/ to see the inspection reports of inspected caterers. Also on the site are reports from inspected restaurants, personal services settings, recreational water facilities, and more.

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