Why Isn’t Juli’s Closure Enforced After Over 20 Cases of Food Poisoning? Details

Since yesterday, dozens of citizens have reported suffering from severe food poisoning after dining at the Juli’s café located at 39 Pushkin Street. They consumed salmon Benedict, after which their health sharply deteriorated. Alerts began coming in on February 8, yet the café's operations have not been halted; only the serving of salmon Benedict has been suspended.

To confirm or deny the cross-contamination theory, a staff member of the café has submitted to testing. Until results are received, the employee has been asked to stay home.

Auroranews attempted to clarify why the café has not been closed thus far. We contacted Anush Harutyunyan, head of the outreach and public engagement department at the State Inspectorate for Food Safety (SASF), who stated during our conversation: “We will have the laboratory test results today, and we will publish them. Yes, we received the alert on February 8. Our legislation does not permit us to close the café until we have laboratory test results.”

This indicates that the SASF does not possess that authority. When we raised the concern that, until the test results are obtained, all citizens unaware of the poisoning incidents might visit and that the number of poisoning cases could increase (as it is still unclear what caused the poisoning), Harutyunyan responded, “You are asking me questions that I should not be answering. You should direct those to the political decision-makers, lawmakers, and drafters. Unfortunately, we are obligated to act as the law prescribes. Although we, as an inspection body and in direct contact with the case, believe that some action should be taken immediately after establishing the fact of poisoning.”

We also contacted the Ministry of Health, which stated they do not have the authority or jurisdiction to close the café and suspend its activities. They referred us to the Labor and Health Inspectorate.

Auroranews called the press secretary of the inspection body, who said: “If it is confirmed that an employee is sick, that information will be communicated to the inspection body, which will then instruct the employer to not allow the employee to work until recovery.” At this time, they could not confirm whether they had received information about the illness of Juli’s employees.

From the Labor and Health Inspectorate, it was noted that they also lack the authority to suspend the café’s operations. It is worth mentioning that the SASF will publish the test results today.