SFA clears sushi restaurant of Salmonella after customer's complaint

Salmonella bacteria was not detected in food samples taken from Itacho Sushi at Jewel Changi Airport, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said in response to a customer's claim that his wife had fallen ill after dining at the restaurant.

However, an unregistered food handler was found working there, it added.

On Tuesday, the customer, Mr Marc Wong, posted on Facebook that he and his wife had patronised Itacho Sushi at Jewel Changi Airport on Dec 13.

In his post, he alleged that his wife had contracted a salmonella infection after dining at the restaurant.

Mr Wong also said he had filed a complaint with SFA, and claimed he was told that the restaurant had "failed on some criteria" and that action would be taken against it.

The post has been shared about 1,900 times as of last night.

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But the SFA told The New Paper yesterday that it did not detect salmonella after receiving feedback from Mr Wong on an alleged food poisoning incident at Itacho Sushi at Jewel Changi Airport.

An inspection was conducted on Dec 18 and food samples were taken for testing on the same day.

An SFA spokesman said in a statement: "Salmonella was not detected in the samples. However, during our inspection, we found that one food handler was not registered."

It added that SFA will be taking enforcement action against the restaurant for the lapse.

In his post, Mr Wong said his wife developed a fever and had a stomach ache the next day.

As the symptoms persisted, the couple went to a general practitioner two days later, where his wife was given an injection and some medication.

HOSPITAL

She was admitted to Mount Alvernia Hospital on Dec 15, where Mr Wong said doctors diagnosed her with salmonella, which can cause vomiting, diarrhoea and typhoid fever. She was discharged last Sunday.

In its statement, SFA also said that it received feedback earlier this month about another alleged food poisoning incident at Itacho Sushi's outlet in ION Orchard.

But it did not detect any hygiene lapses and no enforcement action was taken.

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In a Facebook post yesterday, Itacho Sushi also said SFA told the restaurant that the food samples taken from the Jewel Changi Airport outlet were satisfactory.

The Facebook post said: "It is unfortunate that Mr Wong chose to widely publish his complaint on Facebook even before the results of the lab testing were completed, and this had caused unnecessary stress to our hard-working staff and our loyal customers."

SFA reminded all food operators to adhere to good food hygiene and preparation practices.

Members of the public who come across any errant food operator should report to SFA via the online feedback form (csp.sfa.gov.sg/feedback) or call 6805-2871.

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.