Kaeli Subberwal of the Summit Daily wrote that sixteen employees and patrons at Oscar’s taco bar came down with Salmonella poisoning in July. This outbreak led Summit County health officials to shut down the restaurant until the issue was addressed — a process that took six days.

The health inspection on July 15 was prompted by three cases of Salmonella that were reported to the state health department after Oscar’s patrons went to their medical providers and were diagnosed with the foodborne illness, which can be deadly.

On the inspection report from July 15, Oscar’s was found to be out of compliance with guidelines requiring food be “wholesome, free of spoilage” and without “cross-contamination.”

“A bag of spinach was observed in direct contact with raw beef in the walk-in cooler next to the cook line. Staff discarded spinach,” the report elaborates.

Additionally, the walk-in cooler was observed to be a few degrees warmer than the required temperature, two thermometers were found to be inaccurate and there was no detectable level of sanitizer in the dishwasher.

The issue of food poisoning also arose during the July 15 inspection. “After interviewing staff members, this Department was informed that 2 or potentially 3 staff members had been working with symptoms of illness. All staff have been restricted until further notice. Management and owners were unaware of staff illnesses,” the health department report reads.

An inspection of Oscar’s on August 3rd found “packaged raw beef in the walk-in-cooler in direct contact with a box of ready-to-eat tortillas” and raw chicken in contact with bell peppers. No direct cross-contamination was observed.

Inspection records for all of Summit County’s restaurants are available on the Summit County health department website.