Los Angeles health officials are investigating a norovirus (stomach virus) outbreak after about 80 people fell ill after eating raw oysters at an event in early December to showcase the city’s best restaurants.
The Los Angeles County Health Department reported that people became ill after attending an event on Dec. 3, and the oysters have been recalled.
The patients attended the Los Angeles Times’ 101 Best Restaurants event at the Hollywood Palladium, a theater on Sunset Boulevard, the newspaper reported.
The Times event was to be attended by some of the city’s best chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants, the newspaper announced when promoting the event.
The recalled oysters are Fanny Bay Select and Fanny Bay XS, from Pacific Northwest Shellfish Co., with a packing date on or after Nov. 25, according to the Health Department.
The withdrawal occurred on December 13. A recall notice, published by the California Department of Health, indicated that the oysters were harvested at several sites in British Columbia. The oysters also carried the Buckley Bay and Royal Miyagi brands.
On December 18, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned restaurants and retailers in 14 states and the District of Columbia not to serve or sell oysters. recently collected in parts of British Columbia due to possible norovirus contamination.
The Los Angeles County Health Department has stated that it is continuing to investigate the outbreak.
Norovirus causes vomiting and diarrhea. Other symptoms may include stomach pain, body aches, and fever. Symptoms usually appear between 12 and 48 hours after contamination, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated on its website. It is the most common foodborne illness in the United States.
Oysters and other shellfish absorb the virus into their bodies when wastewater reaches the oceans and the virus enters the water in which the shellfish live, the Washington State Department of Health explained in its warnings about the disease.
A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News late Friday afternoon, but Hillary Manning, a spokeswoman for the CDC, told the Times in a report on the matter that a seafood company from Santa Monica stocked up on the oysters and supplied them to one of the restaurants.
“We have held culinary events for many years and take food safety very seriously,” Manning wrote in an email to the Times.
“As with each of our events, we had protocols in place and, according to an inspection by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, we complied with all relevant safety regulations. We also know the care with which each chef and each restaurant prepares and serves food to our community.”
The list of the 101 best restaurants was created in 2014 by the newspaper’s restaurant critic, Jonathan Gold, who won a Pulitzer Prize and was also a local celebrity. Gold passed away in 2018 at age 57.
