Eighteen patrons of a restaurant located in Sauk Centre, Minnesota became ill after eating at the restaurant on June 22. No one was hospitalized and no one died. Three stool specimens collected from patrons were positive for norovirus GII.

All 26 employees of the restaurant were interviewed. Thirteen reported gastrointestinal illness from June 14 to June 25. A stool specimen collected from an employee was positive for norovirus. Two of the patron isolates were able to be sequenced. The predominant strains detected in the patron samples differed by one base-pair by nucleic acid sequencing. One of the patron isolates had two region C subtypes; one was identical to the other patron isolate and the food worker isolate. The genotype was GII.P16-GII.2.

During the environmental assessment, it was noted that many employees were using bare hands to garnish drinks, prepare salads, and plate food for service. Although a specific food item was not identified, laboratory results and environmental health assessment suggested that an infected food worker was the likely source of contamination of one or more ready-to-eat foods.