“The patient was middle-aged and had a chronic illness which meant they were particularly vulnerable to dehydration,” epidemiologist Hans Boman at Sundsvall hospital told the newspaper Aftonbladet.

The norovirus is extremely contagious. The salad bowl was reportedly filled up continuously with new salad over a period of three days.

The 27 people known to have fallen ill ate at the restaurant between November 15th and 17th. The contaminated salad claimed the middle-aged Swede’s life on November 18th.

“There is nothing wrong with preparing big batches of the traditional Swedish pizza salad (a vinaigrette coleslaw) because the vinegar means it doesn’t go bad quickly,” food inspector Yvonne Sellsted told Sveriges Television.

The municipality will now inspect the pizza restaurant to see if staff properly adhere to health and safety requirements. But for now, the restaurant is still open.

“We have received calls from people asking why we haven’t closed down the restaurant, but as the point of contagion has been identified and removed we see no legal reason to,” Sellsted said.

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