Prague school salmonella outbreak: recipe copied from a cooking site

A school in the Prague 21 district, where a salmonella outbreak struck, has released the “technological procedure” for making spaghetti carbonara, and it matches word for word a recipe on the cooking site Jídlo.cz. But there is so far no way to confirm that the kitchen staff cooked it this way on Sept. 21, the day the outbreak began.

Where the recipe came from

The school disclosed it in response to a request under the freedom of information law. The requester asked specifically what technique kitchen staff used on Sept. 21. Journalists obtained the exact text from a person close to the school who did not want to be named for personal reasons.

The answers were prepared by school principal Libor Skala himself: the document carries his signature and the school’s stamp. He attached the recipe to one of the replies without comment, and declined to say whether the cooks made the dish with spoiled eggs according to this very recipe. The copied text even retains the phrase “click the item to tick it off,” a prompt the site shows below the list of ingredients.

Why this recipe is risky

The key is step three: raw eggs are added only after the pan of pasta is taken off the open fire. “Mix the pasta thoroughly so it is well coated in egg. Do not put the pan back on the stove; the heat of the pasta should be enough,” the recipe says.

At home or in a restaurant that is acceptable, but it is unsuitable for large batches such as in a school canteen: eggs must first be heat-treated and only then added to the dish.

Could the recipe have been changed?

The header of the published document says it was updated on Oct. 8, roughly twenty days after the outbreak. It therefore cannot be stated outright that the canteen in Újezd nad Lesy used this method.

Journalists approached people who might know the exact procedure, including the then head cook Martina Chejnová and canteen manager Matěj Novotný, but they either declined to respond or could not say whether the recipe was used that day. “Sorry, but I really will not comment on this,” principal Skala said. Chejnová said she did not want to answer and hung up.

One of the cooks said earlier that the head cook arrived with a new recipe on the day of the outbreak, explaining that her son makes spaghetti this way. According to the cook, she saw the head cook add raw eggs to the pasta with the pan switched off and, in her view, they could not have been heated enough.

How many people fell ill

According to the Prague hygiene station, kitchen staff used eggs six days after their minimum durability date. Hygiene service spokeswoman Petra Batók said on Thursday that 494 sick people are registered, 290 of them with laboratory-confirmed salmonella. The number of cases is not rising, she said.

Prague 21 spokeswoman Jana Dronská told the ČTK news agency that the district has launched a form through which parents of sick children can seek compensation. Costs must be documented and related to the salmonella illness: medicines and other treatment expenses, as well as compensation for lost income while caring for a sick child. The insurer will decide on reimbursement.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz