Poisoning May Not Be From Dunster Food

The Manager of the Dunster House Dining Services said yesterday he doubted that last Sunday's food poisoning incident was due to the chicken pot pie served that night at Dunster House.

Gerald A. Ardolino, Manager of Dunster and Mather Dining Halls, said he reserves judgment on the source of the poisoning because only four or five cases were reported.

"Normally you get a lot more cases," said Ardolino. "It sounds like an isolated incident."

Ardolino said the Dunster House dining staff takes the normal "stringent precautions" when preparing food. He said he could not recall any incident of food poisoning that were attributed to Dunster Dining Hall in the past.

And David S. Rosenthal '59, director of UHS, said that since some bacteria "cause infections that are immediate or long-term, it might not have been what he [Theriault] ate in the last 24 hours."

Last Sunday, Mather resident Mike A. Theriault's '94 was hospitalized at Stillman Infirmary at University Health Services (UHS) for a bacterial infection caused by eating uncooked affected poultry.

Theriault said he had eaten in Dunster House that evening and believed the leftover chicken pot pie was likely the source of his subsequent illness.

Stillman Infirmary staff reportedly told Theriault that similar cases had beenreported, but because of privacy regulations couldnot disclose further information.

Theriault said yesterday that UHS staff hadsaid it was "more than reasonable" to believe thatthe Dunster meal was to blame.

Theriault said the dining hall staff at Dunster"felt deeply concerned and [said they] would lookinto it."

As a result of this incident, the healthinspector has been notified to perform aninspection of the Dunster House dining services,according to Ardolino.

Stillman officials could not be reached foradditional comment