The state has given Reflections restaurant a clean bill of health — twice — since patrons complained of getting sick in February.
State Department of Agriculture inspectors checked the Leola eatery Feb. 19 and March 7, said spokesman Chris Ryder.
Reflections employees were found following all proper food handling and sanitation practices, Ryder said. All equipment was in order.
"It would appear that [the illness] was not related to ... something that was being done at the restaurant," Ryder said.
The department checks all complaints, said Ryder, who added that the volume of calls in the case was unusual.
Within a two-week period in February, according to the department, 19 people in three separate parties reported vomiting and diarrhea around the time they visited the restaurant.
A flu-like intestinal bug was rampant throughout the country at the time.
The bug likely sparked the flurry of calls, said state Department of Health spokeswoman Stacy Kriedeman.
Based on a description of the symptoms, she said, "We believe it is a Norwalk-like virus."
No stool samples were furnished to the department, she said.
The department is still collecting information about the case, said Holli Senior of the Department of Health.
Norwalk-like viruses usually make people sick for one or two days. They are highly contagious and can be transmitted by touching infected surfaces, foods, liquids or other people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Restaurant general manager Richard Callamaras said that restaurant patrons could have picked up the virus virtually anywhere.
An inspection report published last month in the Sunday News spawned more unfounded complaints, he said.
"It was only because they read this report and said, 'The same thing happened to me.' It kind of perpetuates itself."
The guests who got sick ate different menu items, according to Callamaras.
While some employees, including Callamaras, also became ill this past winter, the manager said, all took sick days until they recovered.
"No [employee] was sick at the restaurant," Callamaras said.
"People just want to be reassured" that everything's fine, and the inspectors confirmed that it is, Callamaras said.
"We were really upset" by the situation, he said.
Reflections is "a great restaurant with great people," added Callamaras, a veteran restaurateur, who said that an entree from the eatery recently won the second annual Iron Chef contest in Cocalico.
Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com.
