MOULTRIE — The Barbeque Pit has been cleared of an E. coli contamination that originated from tainted beef it purchased, and it plans to reopen for business Saturday.

Extensive testing to determine whether the restaurant, which has been closed for a month, is free of the bacteria showed that there was no sign of E. coli, said Carolyn Maschke, public information officer for the Southwest Georgia Health District.

A dozen people were sickened in the outbreak. Eight were confirmed cases of E. coli 0157, with four suspected cases. The people who developed the serious hemolytic uremic syndrome, which is associated with E. coli infection, accounted for the suspected cases.

Of those four people, three remained hospitalized Thursday.

“The test results came back and the restaurant has been given a clean bill of health to reopen,” Maschke said.

Inspectors took samples of surfaces and equipment in the restaurant that were tested in a laboratory to ensure that there were no traces of E. coli, she said.

The Barbeque Pit voluntarily closed July 3 as health officials worked to determine the source of the outbreak in Colquitt County.

Barbeque Pit owner Ruth Hall said that cleaning and other work has been going on about six days a week since the restaurant closed.

“It feels great to have a negative report,” she said of the negative test results for E. coli. “We’re just trying to get everything finished up.”

Hall said she does not have any idea what kind of response she will have from the public in terms of customers who show up in the early days of reopening. However, she said people she has talked to have been supportive and that she even has received cards from well-wishers.

“Everywhere I go people are always asking ‘when are you opening, when are you opening,’” she said. “Everybody’s saying they’re going to come in.”

While the restaurant was closed for business, Hall said, she was able to do other work unrelated to the cleaning that will improve the restaurant.

Another part of the equation was allowing employees to get in some work hours while the restaurant was idled so they could receive pay checks, she said.

“Since we closed we’ve been trying to do whatever, just different things,” she said. “I just went along and got extra work done.”

The meat that caused the contamination came from a new supplier to the restaurant who purchased it from Nebraska Beef.