Wife’s salmonella infection blamed on Changi Airport sushi

File photo of sushi assortment, at left, Singapore woman’s wrist after an injection. Photo: Pixabay, Marc Wong/Facebook
File photo of sushi assortment, at left, Singapore woman’s wrist after an injection. Photo: Pixabay, Marc Wong/Facebook

Update: This story has been updated with the results of the food safety inspection.

A Singapore woman had to be hospitalized after eating uncooked food at a Japanese restaurant in Jewel Changi Airport, according to her husband. 

The woman, identified as Grace, came down with fever and a stomach ache after the couple had dinner at the Itacho Sushi restaurant two weeks ago, Marc Wong wrote Tuesday. He said she was taken to Mount Alvernia hospital, where she was diagnosed with salmonella poisoning.

My wife could not sleep, eat or do anything else but to lay in bed, in pain for days,” Wong wrote Christmas Eve, including an image of her lab report confirming that traces of salmonella were found in her stool.

She spent seven days in hospital before being discharged Sunday.

The matter was reported to the Singapore Food Agency, and the restaurant has been informed of the incident, Wong added.

The agency told Coconuts Singapore Thursday evening that food safety officers had inspected the outlet on Dec. 18 and took food samples for salmonella testing, but results came out negative.

They instead found an unregistered food handler during the inspection and would be taking enforcement actions for this lapse.

Itacho Sushi today confirmed that the couple ate there Dec. 13. The restaurant did not refute the customer’s version of events, but noted in a written reply to Coconuts Singapore that surveillance footage showed them sharing “all the items they ordered,” including dishes ordered by other customers who did not take ill.

However, the restaurant said it would not give a “conclusive verdict” on the matter until the inspection results are released. Food safety officers inspected the outlet a day after the restaurant received a call from Wong. 

“Upon hearing of what happened, our staff gathered the necessary information to look into the incident. Immediately after ending the phone call, we looked into our outlet’s CCTV to ensure that all our food hygiene practices had not been compromised. In which, no act of negligence were found on our end,” the restaurant said in a statement. 

Salmonella is a common bacterial disease normally transmitted through improperly prepared food. Wong insists the restaurant was the only place she could have taken ill.

“The only uncooked food she had was from Itacho Sushi. She did not eat any uncooked meat or seafood before or after our dinner,” the post read. “So as a concerned spouse, I called Itacho Sushi about the incident and they claimed that ‘it may not be our fault as it was only one case, and we won’t be responsible for it.’” 

Itacho Sushi denied telling Wong it would not take responsibility.

Salmonella affects the intestinal tract and usually causes diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. 

 

Related:

Two food caterers temporarily suspended from operations after nearly 40 people fall ill
A timeline of how a man died from food poisoning after eating food from Spize’s River Valley outlet



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