Duluth norovirus outbreak linked to ill food-service employee

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A food worker was the most likely source of the illness that sickened at least 60 people who ate at the Greysolon Plaza Ballroom on Dec. 3, the Minnesota Department of Health confirmed on Wednesday.

That coincided with the preliminary conclusion the Health Department reached a week after the incident.

“Multiple ill employees were identified, indicating the contamination of ready-to-eat food by an ill food worker was the most likely source of contamination,” said Doug Schultz, a Health Department spokesman.

The Health Department confirmed that the culprit was norovirus, the most common food-related illness in Minnesota. It is often spread by food handlers who don’t thoroughly wash their hands.

Because the illness has run its course, the investigation has closed, Schultz said.

About 250 people attended one event and 100 attended another at the Greysolon on Dec. 3, state officials said. The outbreak was first reported to the Health Department on Dec. 6. Neither St. Luke’s hospital nor Essentia Health reported any emergency room visits from people suffering from food poisoning that weekend.

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