The calls are still coming in about food problems at the Garlic
Festival. Red Phone has received about 20 calls in the last couple
weeks, and hopefully everyone is feeling better.
Red Phone: The calls are still coming in about food problems at the Garlic Festival. Red Phone has received about 20 calls in the last couple weeks, and hopefully everyone is feeling better.
“I am appalled at the apparent attempt by Red Phone to downplay the peppersteak food poisoning story in what appears to me to be an attempt to protect the reputation of the Garlic Festival itself when we the consumers of this food are the ones who need to be protected.”
and …
“Five adults and three children live in my home. All of us got sick Saturday after eating the sandwiches. I would look into what happened, but I would never let that stop me from getting another one next year. They are greeeeeat.”
Red Phone: Dear Festival Feasters, Red Phone would like to once again reiterate that there’s nothing but an open line on everything it knows about this. (This is the third time it’s been discussed in Red Phone.) Red Phone loves the festival, but it’s not about protection; it’s about honest answers. Let’s keep the issue in perspective.
As of Wednesday, the Garlic Festival office received about a dozen complaints, and the Santa Clara County Health Department received nine, officials said.
Phil Smith, the director of consumer protection for the health department, said he is looking into the reports but hasn’t found anything that could have caused the sickness yet. He said he expects to wrap up the report in the next few days.
“It appears eight out the nine people cases we had ate the peppersteak,” he said. “We’re always concerned about preventing food-born sicknesses. It doesn’t appear to be of the most serious type, but it is something we still pay attention to.”
The Garlic Festival has been in contact with the health department to gain any possible knowledge said Festival Assistant Director Joanne Kessler.
“The health department has been very pleased with how proactive we’ve been,” she said. All we can do is continue to do that. We want them to tell us what they saw so we can improve on the overall food safety of Gilroy Garlic Festival.”
The health department was at the the festival the first day and didn’t notice anything that caused alarm, Smith said. Red Phone will let you know when the report is available.
Update on Santa Teresa mess
“Looks like some sweeping was done right after our phone conversation – mostly northbound from Long Meadow to Sunrise (you could see the sweeper marks going around the road construction signs). Today the northbound direction lanes are cleaner than previously a month ago – with exception of the what my original complaint was about. Debris piles up from cars making right turns onto Santa Teresa Boulevard. This occurs in both northbound and southbound directions obviously. When the original complaint for this was handled by Red Phone (2007?), Phil Couchee had the sweepers clean those debris piles between lanes quite well. So I know they can do the cleaning. It’s just a matter of getting the correct communication for them.”
Red Phone: Dear It Can Be Done, Thanks for the comments. It is good to know that the streets are a little cleaner because you took the time to make the call. But Red Phone is not sure how long they will stay clean especially will all the construction going on by the new school, which may be going on for quite awhile still.
