Question

Toby is a 16 year-old, pimple-faced boy, who has been working after school at a local pizzeria trying to make a little money for his new guitar.
2 days ago, Toby was working in the kitchen, shredding pounds and pounds of cheese for pizza. The cheese was used to prepare pizzas for many customers.
Today, the pizzeria got many phone calls with complaints from customers experiencing nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, blaming their symptoms on the pizza they ate yesterday.

Explain, what could have happened here. Which bacteria do you think, caused these symptoms, how, and why?

Answer 1

You described Toby as a pimple faced boy, so I think something might have happened with his acne. He might have touched/burst one of them and got the bacteria on the cheese. The bacteria colonizing the pore could have been cutibacterium acnes. They are there to generate enzymes to degrade skin, which may have made the customers sick when they ingested it. There's still lots of research going into the bacteria behind face oils and pimples, but this is the best answer i can give with this information!