According to the Arkansas State Health Department dozens of employees at Walmart home office in Bentonville are overcoming an outbreak of Shigellosis.
KHBS reports the Salsarita’s Restaurant at the Walmart Home Office Cafe is closed while the Arkansas Health Department works to figure out how people got sick with Shigella, a food-borne illness that causes stomach trouble. The health department conducted an inspection last Wednesday right after people started getting sick.
Inspectors found nine violations on that inspection.
Of those nine violations, five were marked priority, meaning they were concerns that needed to be fixed fast.
Some violations included, employees not washing their hands or touching cooked food without wearing gloves.
The report said raw chicken had been dripping on bottled drinks.
A second inspection was done Monday. Inspectors found seven violations, some of them are the same.
The health department has planned a second follow-up inspection for next week.
Walmart Spokesperson Brooke Buchanan released the following statement Thursday.
“Walmart is committed to protecting the health and safety of our associates. We recently became aware that several people fell ill after eating at Salsarita’s in the Home Office cafeteria, which is operated by Eurest. While the source of the reported illnesses has not been confirmed, out of an abundance of caution, Eurest has voluntarily suspended operations of the Mexican food bar. The Walmart Food Safety team is working in full cooperation with the Benton County Health Department and Eurest to determine the exact cause.”