Hungary's National Public Health and Medical Officers Service (ÁNTSZ) has published a list of restaurants where food poisoning has been reported and proven since August 1st of this year. According to a report on origo.hu, the ÁNTSZ says the "blacklist" available as a downloadable .pdf file on their website will grow in the future, and they expect it to be a more powerful deterrent to serving tainted food than the low fines (maximum Ft 150,000) issued in food poisoning cases. We sure hope so, because currently the list contains a grand total of four restaurants.

First on the list is a pizza parlor in the northwestern town of Mosonszentmiklós where eight people contracted salmonella from food served there on August 4th. The second is a restaurant in Kiskunhalas, Bács-Kiskun County, where 38 people got the same bad bug four days later. Third is an eatery in the wine town of Szekszárd, where 23 guests went green on August 20th and 21st. The last is the infamous "Szombathely salmonella case," in which 413 people were infected and four died.

The folks at ÁNTSZ say the list will be updated every month, and it is expected to get one more new "member" over the winter and up to ten in summer months. But this seems a little odd, because they also say that 2,000-3,000 people get food poisoning in Hungary every year, most of them from eating out. Which means that, if the blacklist were actually to contain every eatery responsible for each proven case of poisoning, each of the 11 new restaurants will infect an average of almost 200 unwitting diners. So perhaps best to stick to intimate restaurants with just a few tables, or just to eat at home.