Took my 91 year old aunt to lunch at an independent Mexican restaurant on

A quick note - it might've been contamination, rather than food poisoning. A few years

ago, my 80 year-old mother and I went to a local restaurant (we'd been there before, and since) and had the soup of the day. I stopped eating it after a while because it tasted strange - not spoiled, but odd, and was foamy! I don't know why we didn't complain, maybe we did, I forgot now, but we told the waiter but didn't make a big deal out of it.

We both got ill/mildly ill about 3 hours later and after some thinking, we realized that someone (the waiter?) they must've used a pot of water to which they had added dish detergent! Ugh. The waiter had "quit" next time we went there.

Your short reaction time might've been from something like this. And your aunt could've just been more sensitive to "whatever happened" because of her age. Not to gross you out, Cyn, but that might be what happened.

Hope your'e both doing fine now.

 
Refried beans can be a problem if they are not cooled down fast enough after the first cooking

A great big pot of beans can stay warm all night, even sitting in a restaurant refrigerator, if it's not stirred.

Frying them the next day will kill the bacteria, but as Pat pointed out, the toxins left behind are still there

 
I went to my favorite Pho place last week. The asian-style spoon they gave me tasted of...

...soapy cleanser.

I wonder if those flat-bottomed, high-sided spoons are allowed to dry after being washed without being turned upside down? The soapy water dries in them and tastes nasty.

I asked the owner (in a very discreet and polite fashion) about it and he was very gracious and apologetic. He said he would make sure it didn't happen again.

Michael

 
Yeah, the last time I went to a new Pho place in N Austin on the way home

I had occasion to raise my arm. Don't remember why I did it, but I was assaulted by a disgusting odor coming from my new sweater, and I had showered that morning! I was horrified. We went straight home and I removed the sweater -- took a hefty whiff and it nearly killed me. Onions, garlic, who knows what else (probably blachan). DH's shirt had some odor as well, but DS who was on the other side of the table smelled just fine. It took three washings to get the smell out.

I'm not going back there. The food was good, but you'd have to eat in the nude to prevent the fall-out!!!!

 
Dept of health said if someone complains to the restaurant the restaurant is supposed to notify them

They have received nothing from the restaurant and will send an inspector out this week. They agreed with you guys that it probably hit her sooner because of her age. They said, in addition to a problem with the food, it could be from a sick employee.

Thank goodness we're both a bit better.
Heck of a diet- I've lost 10 pounds!

 
I once heard a lecture from an FDA investigator...

Oh, the stories THEY can tell. Problems with restaurant food can be as simple as forgetting to wash something before putting it onto a cutting surface and dragging a knife through it.
I, too, had a bad experience at a Mexican restaurant. I was sick before I left...and chalked it up to flu, except I got ever so much more sick than usual, and it passed. I always suspected either cross contamination, or a problem with not getting food cooled down quickly enough. These days, rather than shallow cooling they recommend deep cooling with an ice chiller in the center of the pot. Shallow if such isn't possible. It has to do with that core temp. That's where the problem usually lies.

 
It was the same at a Melting Pot Fondue place here. So much grease in the air from

cooking in oil. Everyone left smelling like that grease. They've moved, hopefully, they have a better ventilation system now.

 
I don't know if it was something we ordered or if we were sitting under a vent.

I suspect it was the vent, since DS didn't stink!

 
It's not in the processing in this case--it is, as Traca said, how long it was left on the

counter or on the salad bar, etc. Or if someone handling it contaminated the food and the bacteria grow--and produce toxins (as in salmonella and e. coli and others).

 
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