A restaurant shut down by Toronto Public Health after a salmonella outbreak and a number of other violations will not be reopening on Saturday.

Health inspectors went to the Ruby Chinese Restaurant in Agincourt on Friday, checking to see if everything is up to code. However, the restaurant, which specializes in dim sum, didn't pass the inspection.

There have been 22 laboratory-confirmed cases of salmonella and 15 other possible cases associated with the restaurant. Three people required hospitalization. Those who became infected with the bacterium ate at the restaurant between Sept. 12 and 20.

Food samples taken after Sept. 20 tested negative for salmonella.

An 80-year-old man who dined at the restaurant during the affected time frame has since died from dehydration. Toronto Public Health says the dehydration may be linked to the effects of salmonella - but the connection is not definitive.

The restaurant is at 1571 Sandhurst Circle near Woodside Square mall at McCowan Road and Finch Avenue East. It had a red Toronto Public Health sign on the window Thursday that said "Closed."

The restaurant was closed Wednesday after inspectors found it failed to protect food from contamination, improper maintenance of food surfaces, and failed to prevent an insect infestation.

Inspectors had been called in on September 29 after two complaints but found everything up to code. When they returned for a random check Wednesday, they found the infractions and shut the place down.

The City of Toronto's online restaurant inspection database shows that the restaurant had passed inspections without conditions eight times before.

The last random inspection before the shut down was on August 24.

Toronto Public Health spokesperson Rishma Govani has said conditions in a restaurant can change radically day by day depending on the day's staffing and food deliveries.

She said restaurants in Toronto receive both scheduled and random inspections about every four months.

About salmonella

Toronto Health provided the following background on salmonella:

  • the salmonellosis infection is caused by salmonella bacteria
  • symptoms normally develop 12 to 72 hours after exposure
  • symptoms can include stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fever
  • people with compromised immune systems can die from the infection
  • infants, pregnant women and the elderly are also at greater risk of serious illness
  • in most cases, people are sick for three to seven days and recover without treatment

In a report released earlier this year, Toronto Public Health found that about one in six Toronto residents get a foodborne illness in a given year, meaning about 400,000 cases annually. Most of those cases occur in the home.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Dana Levenson