Diego's Cafe and the Simons & Slattery law firm, which represents it, have issued a response to claims by the state Health and Environment departments that 12 people who ate at DeVargas Center restaurant contracted salmonella bacteria infections.

The response calls information released by the Health Department to be an "ill-advised witch hunt" against the restaurant, which has been in Santa Fe for 20 years.

"Despite repeated attempts to obtain the facts which the Health Department has based its erroneous allegations against Diego's, the department has not provided any evidence that there is, or has been, salmonella in the restaurant at any time," the statement said.

Toni Maryol, who owns the restaurant, voluntarily closed Diego's dining room Thursday to wait for results of the department's investigation into salmonella contamination, which is ongoing, Maryol said.

Diego's bar remains open, she said.

"We have nothing to hide," Maryol said, adding she thinks the problem didn't come from her restaurant but possibly from a food supplier.

The department's lab has confirmed 12 cases of salmonella in 11 people who said they ate at the restaurant prior to getting sick and in a 1-month-old infant whose mother ate at the restaurant prior to the nursing infant's getting sick. Results of the investigation are still pending, however, said Deborah Busemeyer, a spokeswoman.

"It's our responsibility to protect the public's health," Busemeyer said. "We weigh these problems carefully. If we have any concern of more people getting sick, we want to alert the public."

As far as scientific evidence is concerned, it's "very difficult" for labs to get viable salmonella samples from food products, which is why the national outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul, unrelated to this outbreak, took so long to investigate, she said.

Still, the department found a strong link after talking to people who got sick and finding that all of them ate at the restaurant, Busemeyer said. "There's no other common cause," she said.

Joan Baumbach, a medical epidemiologist for the department, also noted the salmonella strain found in the patients was "exactly the same" in all cases, indicating the outbreak came from one place.

Maryol is considering a lawsuit against the department for possible civil rights violations, said Tom Simons, her lawyer at the firm.

"She's been trying to find information about this," Simons said. "We just want to see what proof these people have. They've provided no proof."

Statements released by the department about the salmonella cases have severely damaged the business, Simons said.

"Her business is being destroyed," Simons said. "And we want to know: How many of the people who got sick ate at other restaurants? What else did they do or consume? I haven't seen any facts."

Business at Diego's has dropped 60 percent since the Health Department issued a press release about the outbreak Monday, Maryol said.

The Simons and Slattery statement accuses the department of issuing press releases before confirming the contamination came from the restaurant.

"The department has come up with no actual evidence of salmonella existing at the restaurant. Nonetheless, the department intemperately elected to issue press releases, despite admitting the investigation had not been concluded. Its press release notably failed to state that the department has simultaneously been investigating other sources for the cases, including other restaurants," the statement said.

Contact Sue Vorenberg at svorenberg@sfnewmexican.com.