WASHINGTON, Ill. -Local health officials say more than 150 cases of a foodborne illness are causing one area location of a popular pizza chain to close down.
The Tazewell County Health Department says Monical’s Pizza in Washington will be closed until at least tomorrow (Tuesday).
Complaints started coming in Saturday from what authorities believe was a large party that had eaten at the restaurant, but that people eating there last week also are believed to have felt sick.
It’s believed to be the first time this Monical’s location has had such a problem.
Most of those who have reported feeling ill also have recovered within 12 to 24 hours.
Monical’s is said to be cooperating with the investigation.
“Monical’s Pizza has served millions of meals to guests for over 60 years. The foundation of our business is high quality food served safely.
“When we learned last week of people feeling ill after visiting our Washington Monical’s restaurant, we contacted the Tazewell County Health Department for guidance. Since then, we have been in continual communication with health officials. We followed their recommendation to close the store while they investigated. The health department has not determined the source of the illness as of this afternoon so we cannot report whether the source was from humans spreading germs or from food. Here’s what we can say. . . during this time, we have performed additional aggressive cleaning, discarded all prepared foods, and reinforced training with our staff on proper food handling. Rest assured that we are meeting the guidelines established by local and state health departments.
“The Tazewell County Health Department has approved us to reopen, and we will do so tomorrow, November 29th. We are fortunate to be partnered with the health department during this process. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our guests and their families and look forward to serving them again soon.” –Statement from Monical’s Pizza
