In April 2011, public health officials in Minnesota investigated an outbreak of norovirus among people who attended a basket making workshop at a camp in Bemidji, Minnesota. The workshop was held April 15-17, 2011.

Twenty-one of 34 people interviewed met the definition for an outbreak associated case. No one was hospitalized and no one died. Three stool samples submitted by ill workshop attendees tested positive for norovirus GI.

Minnesota Department of Health sanitarians interviewed the three food workers dedicated to the basket making workshop and inspected the kitchen used to prepare the meals. One food worker reported vomiting and diarrhea on April 15. A second food worker became ill with diarrhea on April 18. The food worker with illness onset on April 15 did not work that day but did work on Saturday, April 16. That food worker’s job duties included salad and vinaigrette preparation, peeling and cutting potatoes, slicing bread, serving food and washing the dishes.

Stool samples submitted by both ill food workers also tested positive for norovirus GI. Nucleic acid
sequencing was conducted on norovirus-positive attendee and food worker samples, and the
resulting sequences were all identical.

No specific food vehicle was identified but investigators concluded the primary source of transmission was an infected food worker who contaminated one or more ready-to-eat foods.