The food service provider cited for violations tied to a salmonella outbreak at the Broome County jail will be fined.
Broome County Health Department and the Broome County Sheriff’s Office provided updates on the investigation into the salmonella outbreak including a fine for the food service provider.
At a press conference on June 18, Broome County Health Department Public Health Director Olivia Catalano said the health department’s investigation is ongoing, but as a part of the process there have been additional surveys of inmates and food safety training for kitchen staff.
After sending food samples from the jail to the Wadsworth Center lab in Albany for testing to find the source of the bacteria, Catalano confirmed that the chicken salad served to inmates matches the strain of salmonella bacteria that caused the outbreak and was identified in those who became sick.
Officials say there have been no recent sick calls within the facility for the past two days and the spread of the illness has subsided.
The facility’s food service provider, Trinity Services Group, is scheduled to attend a hearing on June 25 for seven violations noted by the health department. As the process continues, Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar is still looking at options for food service moving forward.
The stomach bug-like illness infected 320 of the 450 people being held in the Broome County Correctional Facility in late May.
After reviewing footage from the jail and speaking to members of the kitchen staff, which is a combination of working inmates and employees provided by food vendor Trinity Services Group, Catalano said the health department found six critical violations during the preparation of the chicken salad served to inmates.
A Press & Sun-Bulletin review of Broome County health inspection records also revealed that the food service provider had a recorded history of non-critical and critical violations.
Final update on the outbreak
Broome County Health Department Medical Director Lazarus Gehring said on June 18 UHS Wilson Hospital, which reserved a wing for salmonella patients, is now “free from salmonella.” In total, there were 12 people hospitalized, each with preexisting conditions, and now there is one patient remaining whose condition is unrelated to salmonella.
“Finally, I think we can breathe a sigh of relief,” he said.
As for the ongoing health department investigation, Catalano said all food workers have been retrained and cleared of salmonella poisoning after testing was conducted.
Trinity Services Group, she said, was responsible for the improper training and supervision of both the inmate staff in the kitchen and the staff provided for food service from outside the facility.
The health department is currently trying to determine whether the chicken salad served to the facility’s population was contaminated prior to entering the facility.
In 2025, the food provider went through the enforcement process and received a fine for a repeated critical violation. The current violation for which the provider will be sentenced after a hearing on June 25 will be $3,500, according to Catalano.
The finding of violation notice given to Trinity lists seven violations found on June 2, including the lack of food thermometers, bare hand contact with food, improper food cooling methods, improper employee hygiene and improper food storage, resulting in the $3,500 fine.
Akshar still looking at other options
Akshar confirmed that Trinity is still operating in the jail, and the process to find a new food service provider is lengthy. He said he is currently involved in conversations “at very high levels” with government officials to determine the next steps pertaining to the facility’s food service in the future.
“Of course it’s easy to say, ‘well you should just fire them,’ and people may be right, but then what?” he said. “You have to have a plan in place to be able to provide service to those that find themselves incarcerated, so we continue to have that conversation about what our relationship with Trinity Services looks like moving forward.”
Trinity was first named as the facility’s new food service provider in June 2018 after the county decided to withdraw its contract with Aramark Corp following concerns regarding the quality of services and food. The move to switch food service providers reportedly saved the county $1 million in expenses.
Akshar said prior to his administration, the people in the correctional facility were “eating garbage,” including mechanically separated chicken. This, he said, was remedied by working with the county to switch to Trinity.
After Trinity was selected through the county’s request for proposals process, the resolution to authorize the agreement was submitted to the county legislature and signed in June 2018.
Broome County Executive Jason Garnar said the food service provider that is selected has to be the “lowest qualified bid,” or the most qualified for the least amount of money. He said it takes months to exit the contract and select a provider through the RFP process that can provide the needed services.
The RFP, Akshar said, was requiring specific services for four county entities and there were only two companies that responded to it, one being Trinity.
“As we navigate this process, of course we learn much from this, and we are looking very closely at specific language that exists in that original contract that was signed in 2018 and how we can all collectively do better as we move forward and make an ultimate decision about who provides the service,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Chicken salad confirmed source of salmonella; jail vendor faces fine
Reporting by Jillian McCarthy, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin / Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
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By Jillian McCarthy, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin | USA TODAY Network
