TEXAS TOWNSHIP, MI — The Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department has connected 11 cases of salmonella illness to a Texas Township Cracker Barrel Old Country Store that last week announced a voluntary closure.

Workers at the restaurant, which had been in business for nearly 25 years, had been working with health authorities to identify the root cause of a strain of salmonella found only in Southwest Michigan, but ultimately had to permanently close.

The company announced it would permanently close Nov. 30, citing an inability to identify the root cause of the strain of salmonella.

“In support of this investigation, we’ve taken steps to address any risk that may be present in our Kalamazoo store, and we’ve made substantial upgrades to the store and its procedures above standard requirements,” the company said in an emailed statement to MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette. “However, despite the extraordinary efforts made to eradicate the presence of this strain in the store environment, we couldn’t get comfortable that we could prevent a reoccurrence and therefore we have made the very difficult decision to close the Kalamazoo location effective immediately.”

The restaurant voluntarily closed from May 21 to June 28 for a kitchen remodel. It reopened after an inspection and approval by the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department’s environmental health staff. The restaurant operated until Nov. 8, then closed Nov. 8-13 to upgrade the dish room. Cracker Barrel reopened Nov. 13 after being inspected again by the county’s health department.

A recently diagnosed case prompted an expedited environmental testing assessment by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Cracker Barrel’s private testing firm on Nov. 20, according to the health department. On Nov. 28, the health department received a letter from Cracker Barrel’s corporate office that it would permanently close the Kalamazoo location.

“Final voluntary closure was in response to environmental preliminary test results from Cracker Barrel’s private testing firm indicating that significant salmonella contamination was found,” the health department said in a press release.

In all, the county health department matched 11 cases of salmonella mbandaka to the restaurant since July 2017, according to Lyndi Warner, the health department’s public information officer. The specific strain of salmonella mbandaka that was sickening people at the restaurant is unique to Southwest Michigan and is not associated to the restaurant’s supply chain, Cracker Barrel said in a statement.

A person can get a salmonella infection from sources including eating contaminated food, drinking contaminated water or from contact with infected animals or people and not washing hands afterwards, according to the county health department.

Most people with salmonella infection develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection, but symptoms can take up to 16 days after the initial exposure to appear, according to the health department. The illness usually lasts four to seven days and most people can recover without treatment. In extreme cases, a patient may need to be hospitalized.