Currying Favor

There was an article in the local paper today about a new seafood restaurant opening. Normally, I enjoy going to new restaurants, but I think I'll skip this one. See, the place was closed by the local Health Department after an outbreak of e. coli last year. While that's not too unusual, the article went on to explain the source of the outbreak. Apparently, the employees took it upon themselves to slaughter a goat in the kitchen about a week before the first customer got sick.



They slaughtered a goat. In the kitchen.

Goats?

I did some digging on Google, and it turns out that the surname of the restaurant owner is Greek in origin. Goat is a popular dish in Greece, so I figure it was a dish being privately prepared for the owner's family, much like the urban legends of Chinese restaurant freezers being stocked with puppies. Dishes with dog meat are somewhat of a delicacy in China, and wouldn't be wasted on Americans. I don't have a problem with a restaurant owner wishing to use his kitchen for preparing private meals, what bothers me is that there was a week between the goat being prepped and the first outbreak. That implies a certain laxity in cleaning procedures, which worries me.

The article stated the owner hoped the incident would be forgotten. Since this was the front-page, above-the-fold story today, that's not too likely.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I was recently at a Wendy's that had received a sanitation rating of 102%. How do you do that? Did they give the inspector a sponge bath when he came in?