Restaurant shuts down after food poisoning incidents

Pop’s Texas Barbecue restaurant in Caryville closed last week when a health inspector went to the restaurant, which officials say prepared contaminated pork that was served during a fundraiser in Knoxville on July 30. About 24 people became ill after eating the barbecue.

A few days after the fundraiser, the Campbell County Health Department reported some out-of-state travelers got sick after eating barbecue at Pop’s.

On Friday, health officials said the food poisonings were caused by pork contaminated with staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria that causes a 24-hour gastrointestinal illness. The restaurant, which opened in 2001, prepared a little more than 500 pounds of pork for the fundraiser.

“The owner did not have proper equipment to cool that amount of meat and to keep it properly stored until he delivered it to Knoxville,” said Sandy Halford, assistant regional director of the East Tennessee Regional Health Office.

Halford said health inspectors would return to Pop’s on Monday. If the restaurant passes the inspection, she said, the owners can reopen.

———

Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com