Fancy food ain’t safe food – Seattle edition

JoNel Aleccia of The Seattle Times writes that food vendors at the Russell Investments Center in Seattle were cleared by inspectors and allowed to reopen Wednesday, days after an outbreak of highly contagious norovirus sickened hundreds who worked in the high-rise building.

thebuildingOf 600 people who attended a catered event at the building Dec. 1, more than 200 people reported suffering symptoms of norovirus, which causes acute vomiting, diarrhea and gastrointestinal distress, officials with Public Health — Seattle & King County said.

Many more — perhaps hundreds — may actually have fallen ill but were not documented. After health officials had enough evidence to confirm norovirus as the culprit, they stopped tallying survey results, said James Apa, a spokesman for the agency.

“Not collecting more data on magnitude; no indication from building or clients of new outbreak or spread to other locations,” Apa said in an email.

The 42-story building at 1301 Second Ave. was cleaned top to bottom, with special attention to high-touch sites such as doorknobs and elevator buttons, health officials said.

The site houses several high-profile clients, including Zillow, Nordstrom and Marler Clark, the Seattle food-safety law firm.

 

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About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time