Raleigh restaurants take precautions amid Cyclospora outbreak during restaurant week

Downtown Raleigh Restaurant Week gets started on Thursday and restaurants are addressing concerns about the Cyclospora outbreak.

As of Thursday morning, more than 216 cases have been confirmed in Wake County. Five people have been hospitalized.

Restaurants are taking added precautions to make sure their customers stay safe.

We spoke with Empire Eats culinary director Jake Wolf about the precautions they are taking.

"We’re just doubling down on all of our food handling procedures," Wolf said. "On our washing, after we wash it, we keep it separate; we remove the cutting boards, and we sanitize those before they’re used again. We discard the washing water, so we’re always using fresh water."

Wolf said if the Wake County Health Department or the FDA issues a specific advisory about a specific food source, they are ready to change menus.

Downtown Raleigh Restaurant Week runs from July 16 through July 26. You can check out a list of participating restaurants here.  

Fourteen people across North Carolina were hospitalized from cyclospora from May 1 to July 15, according to the state's Department of Health and Human Services. Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite known for unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms, including "explosive diarrhea." It spreads when someone eats or drinks something contaminated with feces.

Health officials in Michigan believe that an outbreak there stemmed from lettuce and salad greens but cautioned that the source was not yet definitive and that other food items could not be ruled out.