News

SIMCOE, OCTOBER 11, 2013 – A highly-publicized Caledonia burger stand has received the green light from the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit to reopen for business.

Public health officials allowed the premise located at Highway 6 and Argyle Street South in Caledonia to re-open on Thursday after an inspection confirmed the health hazards that had led to the original closure order had been remedied to a satisfactory level.

“The owners of the establishment have made the necessary changes to ensure their food premise meets or exceeds the minimum standards outlined in Ontario’s Food Premise Regulations,” explained Sandy Stevens, program manager of the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit’s Environmental Health Team.

Health Unit staff and the Acting Medical Officer of Health have recently been working cooperatively and with a common purpose with the owners of the establishment to ensure the stand fully complies with the Regulations before granting their approval to reopen.

The burger stand was ordered to close in July after a routine health inspection revealed the business lacked potable water, a proper handwashing station and a consistent power source. Following a brief shutdown, the burger stand reopened despite the closure order, and refused health inspectors access to the premise.

The matter was brought before the courts. An Injunction Order was initially granted and contempt proceedings were commenced due to the operators’ failure to abide by the Injunction Order. However the lawyer for the Health Unit asked for an adjournment of the contempt proceedings once the operators of the stand had begun taking positive steps to correct the food safety concerns.

“From a public health perspective, we were glad to see the owners of the establishment taking steps to protect the health and safety of their patrons,” added Stevens. “With the continued cooperation of the owners inspectors will continue to visit the premise to ensure continued compliance, as we do for all food premises within Haldimand and Norfolk counties.”

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Media contact:
Sandy Stevens
Program Manager, Environmental Health Team
Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit
Ext. 3216 at either 519-426-6170 or 905-318-6623
[email protected]