According to a Toronto Star story, at least 75 people are sick and three are in hospital after eating a Mother’s Day buffet tainted with salmonella bacteria last Sunday at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario. About 300 people attended the brunch and that health officials have only been able to contact about 170 and are expecting the number of ailing people to rise.

Dr. Bob Nosal, medical officer of health for the Halton Region said, "This is a very high attack rate for salmonella. Right now about 40 per cent of those contacted are ill. We usually don’t see numbers that high."

The story explains that public health investigators are trying to pinpoint how the salmonella poisoning occurred, which specific foods were involved and who was to blame. They obtained 14 food samples from the buffet, which have been sent off to the Ontario Public Health Laboratory in Toronto for testing. Results are expected in a few days.