Updated: Woods Hill Table closes while officials investigate salmonella cases

A cluster of salmonella cases has prompted Acton’s acclaimed Woods Hill Table to close its doors while state and local authorities investigate. 

Public Health Director Melanie Dineen said the West Acton restaurant closed on September 16. A paper sign affixed to the eatery’s door on September 17 confirmed it hadn’t reopened.

Dineen told The Acton Bridge that 10 people had been reported ill as of September 17. The cases include employees and customers. 

State epidemiologists individually contacted all affected patrons, “and there is currently no ongoing risk to the general public,” Dineen wrote in a memo to the Board of Health. 

“We take food safety protocols very seriously,” Woods Hill owner Kristin Canty said in a statement emailed to The Bridge. 

Canty said the farm-to-table restaurant on Commonwealth Avenue was cooperating with state authorities “to go through the proper measures that they have implemented.” 

Dineen praised Woods Hill’s management for their response.

“They’re doing absolutely everything they’re supposed to,” she told The Bridge.

Dineen said that officials started investigating on September 8. An initial inspection “showed no priority violations,” she wrote in the memo. 

Based on the data available in the investigation’s early stages, Dineen said she didn’t feel “that there was a risk to the public.” 

Additional cases cropped up through testing, however, including an instance where someone was carrying salmonella but not showing symptoms. 

Roughly a week into the investigation, Dineen said, she advised Woods Hill to close, and the restaurant agreed.

Although local officials felt this was “most likely an isolated incident,” Dineen wrote that more testing was needed to confirm that supposition. 

Each staff member will need two negative test results before they can come back to work. 

Salmonella can spread through food or from person to person, Dineen said. Symptoms can include stomach cramps, diarrhea, fever, nausea, and vomiting and can sometimes get severe enough to require hospitalization, per the state Department of Public Health.

Dineen said she hadn’t heard of anyone being hospitalized in connection with the Woods Hill cluster.

Canty opened Woods Hill in West Acton in 2015. The brand has won rave reviews, and Canty has since expanded her restaurant footprint, including a location in Boston’s Seaport that received a mention in the Michelin Guide. 

Celeste Katz Marston contributed reporting.

4:27 p.m. This breaking story has been updated.