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NATIONAL CENTER FOR CASE STUDY TEACHING IN SCIENCE Gastronomic Gastroenteritis at The Fat Duck by Nienke E. van Houten Faculty of Health Sciences Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada “Gastronomic Gastroenteritis at The Fat Duck” by Nienke E. van Houten Page 1 NATIONAL CENTER FOR CASE STUDY TEACHING IN SCIENCE Gastronomic Gastroenteritis at The Fat Duck by Nienke E. van Houten Faculty of Health Sciences Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada Introduction For a restaurant to earn a Michelin star is one of the highest honors in global cuisine. The more stars earned, the more innovative and renowned the restaurant and the associated chef. The Fat Duck in Berkshire, Wales in U.K. has three Michelin stars and is considered one of the best restaurants in the world. It serves an estimated 1750 patrons every month. The head chef, Heston Blumenthal, is known for his ground-breaking innovation in the area of “molecular gastronomy,” which fuses molecular laboratory techniques into cooking practice (Smith et al., 2012). It is January 2009 and you have waited months to get a reservation at this restaurant. You and your dinner party choose the 16-course tasting menu for the equivalent of $240 per person. The cost is higher if a patron chooses matching wine pairings. You enjoy bite after bite of fascinating delicacies, including 1) a green tea and lime mousse that was frozen by the addition of liquid nitrogen, 2) oysters with passion fruit jelly and lavender, and 3) roast foie gras “benzaldehyde,” which uses cryogenically frozen goose livers cooked in a vacuum bag in a controlled temperature water bath. You leave the restaurant feeling enlightened and awed by the brilliance of the chef and the smug satisfaction that you have eaten at what is considered one of the best restaurants in the world. About two days later, you start to feel ill. You experience nausea and start vomiting. You are beset by abdominal pain, diarrhea and flu-like symptoms, which last about three days. You ask yourself, “Could it have been the meal? Surely not at that restaurant and at that price!” You visit your physician who suggests that it’s gastroenteritis but does not diagnose the cause since she/he does not suggest that a cell culture or blood panel be performed. You recover after a few days, but your grandmother who was visiting you also acquires a similar illness during that time and requires hospital- ization for dehydration. Since she did not join you for dinner, you decide you caught this “bug” elsewhere. On Febru- ary 25, 2009 the local public health unit receives a report that four people became sick after eating at The Fat Duck. • Reflection: How would you react as a diner in this situation? • The Investigation Now you will switch roles. You are the chief outbreak epidemiologist who has been assigned to investigate this report. In the following case, you and your infection control team (ICT) will uncover the scope of food poisoning outbreak at The Fat Duck, uncover the mode of transmission and ultimately identify the source of the infection using the principles of outbreak investigation. At

“Gastronomic Gastroenteritis at The Fat Duck” by Nienke E. van Houten Page 2 the end you will have solved one of the biggest restaurant associated outbreaks of gastroenteritis ever reported (Smith et al., 2012). Note: The sections of this case build on information uncovered in previous sections.

NATIONAL CENTER FOR CASE STUDY TEACHING IN SCIENCE “Gastronomic Gastroenteritis at The Fat Duck” by Nienke E. van Houten Page 3 Part I – Is an Investigation Required? Background Reading: “Detection and control of outbreaks,” AFMC Primer on Population Health. (See “Reading 1” in case study # 2 folder in Canvas) The first step of outbreak investigation is to establish the existence of an outbreak. In this stage of the investigation your ICT will gather information to determine whether an outbreak is actually occurring. If an outbreak is confirmed, then a full-scale investigation will ensue. Questions 1. Discuss the following options with your team and come to a consensus on the best option. How do you uncover more information about the extent of the outbreak? What are limitations and advantages of each option? Consider time, resources and information that each option will require. Option A: Create a press release and ask all people who ate at the restaurant to report their symptoms. Option B: Test all diners from the last week/month. Option C: Recruit reports from local doctor’s offices, hospitals and labs. Option D: Acquire more information from the restaurant by questioning staff and management. 2. What is one immediate course of action the ICT could take to prevent spread? 3. Consider the fact that some diseases are reportable to public health organizations, whereas others are not. How do you think this will impact your investigation? ICT Discovers that the Restaurant Suspected an Outbreak Your ICT decides to acquire more information from the restaurant by questioning staff and management. The meeting between your team and the restaurant management reveals that the restaurant has suspected an outbreak for several weeks. They had received 66 separate complaints from sick people over six weeks (January 6, 2009 to February 22, 2009) and had hired an independent company, Food Alert Ltd, to review food management and perform a survey of the people who had complained of symptoms that included vomiting, nausea and diarrhea. Thus, your ICT confirms that there is a suspected outbreak of gastroenteritis as a result of patronizing The Fat Duck and decides to move forward with a more thorough investigation.

NATIONAL CENTER FOR CASE STUDY TEACHING IN SCIENCE “Gastronomic Gastroenteritis at The Fat Duck” by Nienke E. van Houten Page 4 Implementing Immediate Control Measures To control the outbreak, the restaurant voluntarily closed until the source of the problem could be found. They have also conducted a pre-emptive deep clean of the restaurant prior to reporting the cases to the public health unit. Unfortunately, this also means that they don’t have many food samples available for microbiological testing and contaminated surfaces will also be difficult to identify. It is now up to your ICT to identify: the extent of the outbreak, the agent responsible, and the source. Questions 4. Surveys by Food Alert identified 66 cases. Do you think this captures a high proportion or low proportion of cases? Why? 5. Generate a list of possible agents that could be causing the outbreak. 6. Do you have enough information to assume that this is a case of food contamination? What evidence would you need to demonstrate food contamination? 7. Once the closure was reported in media, what do you think happened to reports of illness? Why? Part II – Uncovering the Extent of the Problem Background Reading: “ Patterns of disease development in a population: the epidemic curve,” AFMC Primer on Population Health. (See “Reading 2” in case study # 2 folder in Canvas) Your ICT now needs to uncover the extent of the problem and determine how many people have been affected. This means you must apply some descriptive epidemiology. In essence, you will need to develop a case description for this outbreak (consider person, place and time) and come up with a way to identify cases among diners so that you can uncover the full extent of the outbreak. Questions 8. Use the information provided in the previous sections. How would you define the study population? Develop a case description. 9. How would you find new cases? Would you take a different approach to finding cases between staff and diners?

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