Health officials attributed the outbreak in Hawaii to frozen scallops that were served raw at several restaurant locations, ABC reports.
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“We also embargoed the frozen scallop product so that it wouldn’t be further distributed throughout the state”.
The restaurant has been getting calls from concerned customers, and it was “notifying them of the situation if they have not heard about it”, he said.
“We are assuring them that Oahu and Kauai are dealing with this, while the rest of us are still safe”, Quemado said.
The outbreak has been concentrated on the island of Oahu where all but eight of the victims live.
A hepatitis A outbreak in Hawaii has sickened at least 168 people, with at least 46 of them hospitalized, according to the Hawaii Department of Health. An embargo restricts the use, sale or distribution of the product.
The symptoms of hepatitis A include fatigue, fever, weight loss, loss of appetite, clay colored stools, dark urine, headache, nausea, muscle aches, and jaundice, which is yellowing of the skin and eyes. The Hawaii State Department of Health Sanitation said Tuesday that Genki Sushi is being ordered to close its 10. The box says the scallops are from the Philippines.
Oshiro praised Genki Sushi for being a “good partner” in its investigation into the source of the outbreak.
DOH is recommending for anyone who may have consumed products – specifically scallops – at Genki Sushi locations to consider contacting a health care provider about receiving a vaccine or immune globulin.
The Hawaii State Department of Health confirmed a case of hepatitis A in a food service employee at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka restaurant, located at 801 Kaheka Street in Honolulu near Don Quijote.
Virginia Pressler in a release said Genki Sushi “has complied with all orders” in the case.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Lauren Sucher said the agency is working to confirm the source.
Genki Sushi patrons select their sushi items by taking them off a conveyor belt that moves around tables and counters. Updated case counts and information are provided each Wednesday along with a complete list of food service establishments who have had employees diagnosed with hepatitis A infection at the following link: http://health.hawaii.gov/docd/hepatitis-a-outbreak-2016/.
An embargo was also placed on the imported frozen scallops distributed by Koha Oriental Foods and True World Foods, though none of the shipments from True World Foods were identified as sources of the outbreak, according the health department’s report.
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Dr. Sarah Park, the state’s epidemiologist, said one key piece of information was that 70 percent of those infected had eaten at Genki Sushi, but only 22 to 23 percent of those who replied to a department survey had.
