The popular Goosebeary's food truck is expected to resume serving Asian food at its traditional site behind Building 68 this week, once the owners receive permission from the Cambridge Inspection Services Department and the MIT Office of Campus Dining.
The truck, which has been serving the MIT community for 10 years, was ordered to discontinue operations on campus last Friday after Cambridge inspectors shut down the Poppa & Goose restaurant on First Street for health code violations. Food served from the truck is prepared at the restaurant.
City inspectors had visited the restaurant earlier in the week after four MIT students were treated for food poisoning at MIT Medical and two other members of the MIT community at Cambridge Hospital, all of whom had patronized the truck. One victim spent one night and another two nights at the MIT infirmary. All six have recovered.
No food violations were found at the truck at the time. The city plans to reinspect the truck before permitting it to resume operations.
The restaurant, shut down last Thursday, has received permission to reopen, the owners told MIT Director of Campus Dining Richard Berlin at a meeting Tuesday. The owners agreed at the meeting to reduce the size of the menu and take other safety measures.
"To improve production practices, the menu will concentrate on the most popular items and increase utilization of rotating daily specials to maintain variety," Berlin said. "They're dedicated to MIT and they're upset that it happened. They're anxious to get back on track."
Berlin said MIT would continue to conduct monthly sanitation inspections of the food trucks.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on November 14, 2001.
