Georgetown has indefinitely ended its arrangement with Organic To Go as the investigation into the source of this month’s norovirus outbreak continues.

“When we reopened [O’Donovan Hall], we proactively agreed with the Department of Health to do so preparing our own Grab `n’ Go items as there was enough reason to suspect a potential link between those items and the virus on campus,” university spokesperson Julie Bataille said, although she did not elaborate.

The dining hall was closed for almost two days to be cleaned after dozens of students fell ill on Sept. 30 with gastrointestinal symptoms.

Bataille said that while dining services plans to expand Grab `n’ Go options, including adding additional organic meals, Organic To Go will not be returning to campus in the “foreseeable future.”

Organic To Go was introduced as an environmentally friendly choice and as part of the larger renovations to improve food options at the dining hall this fall.

Stephanie Sampiere, vice president of corporate communications at Organic To Go, said the company is no longer serving Georgetown, but maintained that Organic To Go could not have been the cause of the norovirus outbreak.

“All Organic To Go food is prepared in a central commissary kitchen, and the company served thousands of customers’ food prepared from the commissary kitchen that day and received absolutely no concern in regards to Organic To Go’s food,” she said.

The Department of Health has not yet determined the cause of the norovirus outbreak that plagued campus earlier this month, but LaShon Beamon, interim communications director at the DOH, said last week that the tested food samples from O’Donovan Hall “came up negative for food borne passages.”

Beamon said yesterday they do not have any updates on the investigation and a report will be released later this month. While the investigation will continue for a few more weeks, DOH officials have said it is possible that no cause will be determined.

“It’s important to know that we still haven’t heard back definitively from the Department of Health about a specific source but are taking this precaution nonetheless and, as we used to do, prepare these items in house,” Bataille said.

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