In October 2012, the Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department (HSPHD) investigated an outbreak of norovirus among church members who had eaten catered foods from a restaurant in Maple Grove. The implicated meal date was October 21, 2012.

Forty patrons were interviewed by HSPHD epidemiologists, including 27 patrons from the church group and 13 patrons identified from other catering or take-out orders. Nineteen cases (all from the church group) met the case definition. The median incubation period for the cases was 27.5 hours (range 6 to 41.5 hours). The median duration of illness was 24 hours (range, 7 to 48 hours). Stool specimens collected from two cases tested positive for norovirus GII. No food item was statistically associated with illness.

HSPHD sanitarians visited the restaurant on October 25 and did not note any critical violations. Illness histories and job duty information were obtained from 57 restaurant employees. Five employees reported recent gastrointestinal illness. Two servers reported illness prior to the implicated meal date (onsets on October 14 and 16), and a line cook, host, and server reported illness onset after the implicated meal date (October 22 and 25).

The vehicle of transmission was not identified; however, the most plausible scenario is that ready-to-eat foods were contaminated by an ill or recently ill food worker.