Cooper’s Hawk Winery Cyclospora Outbreak in Jacksonville, Florida: Victims Still Coming Forward to Seek Justice as 4-Year Statute of Limitations Approaches
In June of 2019, the Florida Department of Health in Duval County (DOH-Duval) was notified of an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness (food poisoning) among employees of the local Jacksonville Cooper’s Hawk Winery – the restaurant corporate manager called in the notification. By that time, about 20 employees had become ill. On Sunday, June 23 the Regional Environmental Epidemiologist (REE) was notified by Florida Poison Information Control Network that 16 out of 17 persons who dined at Cooper’s Hawk with a group on June 11, 2019 were ill with a gastrointestinal illness. This information was sent to DOH-Duval who began an outbreak investigation on June 24.
That same day, another individual called to report he was in a different group (24 persons) who all became ill (except one person) after eating at Cooper’s Hawk Winery in Jacksonville on June 13.
Between June 24 and July 3, 2019, a total of six independent parties contacted DOH-Duval Epidemiology to report gastrointestinal illness after they ate food from the Jacksonville Cooper’s Hawk Winery between June 11 and June 15.
On July 8, the local news media reported on the outbreak which resulted in additional patrons calling in and reporting their illnesses.
FoodWorld 