The Saskatoon Farm is located in Foothills County, about 20 minutes southeast of Calgary.
Described on its website as a one-of-a-kind destination for berry-picking excursions, quality produce and handcrafted fare, the farm includes a garden centre, farmers market, seasonal artisan markets and a popular restaurant.
However, in a post on social media, the Saskatoon Farm team announced the restaurant would be closed on Wednesday after a number of customers experienced flu-like symptoms after dining there on Tuesday, July 15, and Wednesday, July 16.
A statement, posted on social media suggests that “unprecedented changes” to the water system at the Saskatoon farm may be behind the illness outbreak.
Farm management claims the issue was first brought their attention on July 17, and suggests “unprecedented changes to our water quality” may be responsible.
In an email to Global News, one of the farm’s owners, Seann Hamer, said, “with the heavy rains last week we had groundwater get into our cisterns where we normally truck water in for the restaurant. As soon as we noticed we switched to our treated well, purged all our affected lines with chlorine and switched to bottled water and pop.”
Hamer said they also “had to throw out many produced items that might have been affected.”
An aerial view of the Saskatoon Farm, located a 20 minute drive southeast of Calgary and a popular destination for Saskatoon berry picking, a farmers market and restaurant.
Global News
Management insists, on social media, that AHS did not order the restaurant to be closed, but claim they are working closely with AHS investigators and are taking the matter “very seriously.”
“They have been great, testing and advising us in our procedures,” reads the email from Hamer. “Our shut down today was our choice to do a deep clean and remediate anything else.”