Agave Azul Mexican Grill Implicated in Fatal Food Poisoning Case
According to reports out of West Lafayette, Indiana, a food poisoning outbreak at the Agave Azul Mexican Grill, located at 705 Sagamore Parkway West, W. Lafayette, turned fatal this last Fall. It was then that Alexander Zdravic, a retiree from Suburu, died of complication following acquiring food poisoning. He allegedly consumed a late lunch at the restaurant on October 22nd. The final report in the Tippecanoe County Health Department health investigation confirms that Alexander, his wife, and their adult daughter were all ill in the early morning hours of the 23rd, and sought medical treatment at St. Elizabeth Hospital.
According to the coroner, Donna Avolt, Alexader died at the hospital three days later, on October 26th. Avot attributed his death to clostridium perfringens, a spore-forming gram-positive bacterium that is found in many environmental sources, including meats and vegetables.
The outbreak led to at least three inspections by the Tippecanoe County Health Department (TCHD), including on October 27, October 31, November 1, and November 3. The owner of the Agave Azul Mexican Grill, Jose Bustos, recalled in an interview with the Journal & Courier, that he had been informed of the illnesses, but held firm that none of his other 600 patrons that day became ill. And while the TCHD identified certain critical violations during their series of inspections (including 17 on October 27th), they could not definitively identify the food from the Agave Azul Mexican Grill as the source. Sample of the food taken on October 31 were not infected with clostridium perfringens.
Out of an abundance of caution, Agave Azul Mexican Grill was voluntarily closed between the 27th and 31st.
Since the initial report, at let two other reports of illness have surfaces, one from the same day (October 22nd) but there is no clinical basis for verifying if either were sickened by clostridium perfringens. The TCHD has placed Agave Azul Mexican Grill on probation, with inspections due quarterly in 2017.
For more information about this outbreak or to talk to a food poisoning lawyer, call 1-888-335-4901.
