In an unfortunate turn of events, a local church, St. Josephs Catholic Church, is now at the center of an outbreak of salmonella after parishioners ate an enchilada lunch served on Sunday, March 27th. While it remains unclear how many people were sickened following consumption of the Sant Joseph’s enchiladas, the Texas food poisoning law firm of Ron Simon & Associates has received numerous calls from victims that include both parishioners and their friends and family.
The City of Amarillo Environmental Health Department (AEHD) and the City of Amarillo Public Health Department (APHD) are both actively investigating the source of the salmonella, with one patron whose family attends the church saying he was told the source might have been the beans. That victim, and at least two of his family members, claim they tested positive for salmonella following a visit to the Amarillo VA Health Care System. Neither the AEHD or APHD have gone on record with any information about the source of the pathogen, nor have either confirmed that the pathogen is salmonella.
According to both victims and a press release issued by both St. Joseph’s Parish and the Catholic Diocese of Amarillo, an insurance carrier ahs been put on notice. The notice indicated that ta process was being set up for victims with related medical bills.
According to Mr. Simon, “these sorts of events are wonderful community-building activities, but with them comes the risks inherent in any food or meal preparation. This may be a case of contaminated beans, or it could end up one of the food handlers had been sick with salmonella and spread the pathogen while handling the food. At this stage, it is just too early to tell. We hope everyone who ate there recover’s quickly.”
