After being closed for nearly a month due to a gastrointestinal outbreak, the owner of Saskatoon Farm is hoping to move forward and regain people’s trust.
Alberta Health Services (AHS) ordered the farm’s food facilities to close on July 23, after an outbreak of E. coli and amoebiasis was identified.
Since then, the food service areas, including the restaurant, bakery, and Red House, have reopened in stages and as of Aug. 18, fully reopened.
“We’ve been working super close with AHS over the past month,” said Seann Hamer, Saskatoon Farm Owner. “We’ve fixed everything to the level that they’re happy with, and that we’re happy with. This incident should never, ever happen again.”
Hamer took to social media to express his sympathy to all the people who have been affected.
“We're just hoping to move forward after this and regain people's trust,” he said.
The outbreak was caused by groundwater contamination after the heavy rain in July.
Under the guidance of AHS, the water system has been flushed, and everything has been deep cleaned.
“We're installing a new above-ground water system, to be approved by AHS, so we can continue trucking in city water for the future,” Hamer said.
The farm's wells were not affected, and the restaurant is currently using bottled water and canned beverages.
“We're back open now, and we hope to get you back at the farm again,” Hamer said.