CDC: Testing finds no link between school lunch, 22 vomiting students

March 28--PORTLAND, Maine -- Although laboratory tests completed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control were unable to provide a reason for a March 10 outbreak of gastrointestinal illness at Reiche Elementary School, the tests show no link between the illness and the school lunch the children ate that day.

The results of the federal CDC's testing of food samples are not conclusive as to the cause of the stomach ailment that sickened 22 student, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday. The federal agency did confirm that no bacteria were found in the food that can be linked to the illness at the school.

"The tests of the food samples did find some germs -- but they were ones that are commonly found in healthy individuals and in some foods," Maine CDC officials said.

"These germs can produce a toxin that leads to an illness; however, the illness would have lasted much longer and the symptoms would have been different than those witnessed at Reiche School," Maine CDC said.

As soon as it gets a full lab report from the federal agency, Maine CDC said it will formally close its investigation into the case, Portland Public Schools spokeswoman Tess Nacelewicz said in a news release.

She said Maine CDC plans to list the cause of the gastrointestinal ailment as unknown.

All of the affected students recovered quite quickly and returned to school. Because of the unusual number of cases, the district immediately notified the Maine CDC and city of Portland's Health Division when the students got sick. Officials from the state and the city did an inspection of the Portland Public Schools' Food Service central kitchen and Reiche School.

The central kitchen had no violations but four problems were found at Reiche on March 12. Those problems have been corrected and Reiche passed a followup health inspection on March 19.

"Working closely with the city of Portland Health Inspection Service, state health inspectors and the Maine CDC, we targeted the four areas of concern, defined corrective actions, provided training for the staff and increased supervision at the site with the cooperation of the Reiche school staff," Ron Adams, director of Food Services for Portland Public Schools, said.

Adams noted that the Portland Public Schools' Food Services program serves 1.1 million meals without issue each year and is a model for using local foods and addressing student hunger.

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