NAACP members sue California hotel over ‘humiliating’ norovirus outbreak

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Douglas Powell

NAACP members are suing an international hotel chain over a norovirus outbreak that sickened 127 people — everyone who ate the salmon — at the NAACP’s annual California conference at the upscale Hotel Sofitel in Redwood City in 2014.

Civil rights attorney John Burris listens as Alice A. Huffman, President of the California NAACP, talks about her experience with the staff at the Hotel Sofitel at the law offices of John Burris in Oakland Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016. Civil rights attorney John Burris announces the filing of a lawsuit against Sofitel Corporation on behalf of 127 NAACP members including Alice Huffman. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

Civil rights attorney John Burris, one of the conference attendees who didn’t eat the fish, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, on the two-year anniversary of the Oct. 25, 2014 gala of around 300 black dignitaries, community leaders and youth. Attendants described brunch the next morning as a “humiliating” “horror scene” with NAACP members age 5 to 80 getting violently ill in the hotel lobby while hotel staff ignored them and provided no aid.

A spokesperson for Sofitel Corporation could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

California NAACP President and conference organizer Alice Huffman said the members were treated “like dogs” by hotel staff.

“I get very sad when I think about what happened to our people and then I get very annoyed at the hotel and the indifference that they showed us,” said Huffman, who said she had enough problems with the hotel before the conference to make her wonder if race was an issue.

Former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, who said he was in a coma for two days after being struck by the virus, was among more than three dozen attendees who were hospitalized.

40 sick at NAACP annual gala; Hotel Sofitel Norovirus outbreak wasn’t contained

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Douglas Powell

The outbreak of gastrointestinal illness at Hotel Sofitel in Redwood Shores continued days after last month’s ill-fated NAACP dinner, leading the hotel to temporarily shut down all its food operations for disinfection.

The hotel and San Mateo County Health System confirmed Monday that additional people , including guests and hotel employees, became sick in the days after the NAACP State Convention on Oct. 25, when 12 people were taken by ambulance to hospitals for treatment of dehydration. Others drove themselves to the hospital the night of the gala or rode out the symptoms at home.

The cause of the outbreak remains under investigation. Hotel Sofitel spokeswoman Sandra Duhamel said foodborne illness and a norovirus are both possibilities. County environmental health investigators didn’t find any violations linked to foodborne illnesses, she said. The company hired an epidemiologist who said the symptoms, vomiting and diarrhea with recovery in 24 to 48 hours, indicated a possible norovirus.

The hotel has conducted a propertywide cleaning under the guidance of Belfor Property Restoration, said Duhamel, adding some of the food outlets are now back in operation. The hotel was open for business Monday, and a handful of guests were seen eating downstairs.

Killing 99.9 per cent of bad bugs is great advertizing but may be meaningless

Posted on December 16, 2009 by Douglas Powell

Food is 21st century snake oil. In an era of unprecedented affluence, consumers now choose among a cacophony of low fat, enhanced nutrient staples reflecting a range of political statements and perceived lifestyle preferences, far beyond dolphin free tuna.

In fall 2000, I contacted Procter & Gamble to ask for the data substantiating the claim that Fit would eliminate 99.9 per cent of bacteria on fresh produce,

After a bunch of calls to various PR types I got hooked up with some scientists at P&G in Cincinnati, who verbally told me that sample cucumbers, tomatoes and the like were grown on the same farm in California, sprayed with chemicals that would be used in conventional production, and then harvested immediately and washed with Fit or water. The Fit removed 99.9 per cent more, or so the company claimed, because no data was ever forthcoming.??????

One problem. Many of the chemicals used have harvest after dates, such as the one tomato chemical that must be applied at least 20 days before harvest. Residue data on produce in Canadian stores reveals extremely low levels, in the parts per million or billion. So that 99.9% reduction is really buying consumers an extra couple of zeros in the residue quantity, all well below health limits.

The Wall Street Journal picks up on this theme today, stating that everything from hand-sanitizing liquids to products like computer keyboards, shopping carts and tissues tout that they kill 99.9%, or 99.99%, of common bacteria and fungi.

But some of these numbers look like the test scores in a class with a very generous grading curve. They often don’t include all pesky germs, and are based on laboratory tests that don’t represent the imperfections of real-world use.

Human subjects, or countertops, in labs are cleaned first, then covered on the surface with a target bug. That is a far cry from a typical kitchen or a pair of grimy hands.

"The 99.99% message is more powerful among consumers than ‘antibacterial’ or ‘germ kill’ alone," Maria Lovera, senior brand manager of skin care for Playtex Products Inc., maker of Wet Ones antibacterial wipes, wrote in an email.
In a study soon to be published, University of New Mexico biochemist Laurence Cole found that in two of three brands’ home-pregnancy tests, fewer than two-thirds of pregnancies among women who had missed their periods were detected.

To cite a 99.9% fatality rate, manufacturers don’t have to kill 99.9% of all known bugs. Regulations don’t require them to disclose which bugs they exterminate, just that the products are effective against a representative sample of microbes. For instance, many products can’t kill Clostridium difficile, a gastrointestinal scourge, or the hepatitis A virus, which inflames the liver. Yet by killing other, more common bugs, they can claim 99.9% effectiveness.

Should fruits and vegetables be cleaned with bottled washes? No

Posted on September 5, 2009 by Douglas Powell

I’ve already posted on some of the dubious marketing and safety claims that accompanied the original Fit produce wash before it was abandoned by Procter & Gamble in 2001.

On Monday, the Los Angeles Times takes a look at produce washes out there – such as Veggie Wash, Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash, Bi-O-Kleen Produce Wash, Earth Friendly Products Fruit & Vegetable Wash and Eat Cleaner All Natural Food Wash and Wipes — and concludes water is just fine.

Sandra McCurdy, extension food safety specialist in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, says that most produce is pathogen-free because it’s been washed during processing and because handlers take steps to avoid contaminating the fruits and vegetables they stock in the produce aisle. But if it is not, a thorough rinse under water is usually all that’s needed to remove most pathogens.

Michael Doyle (left), professor and director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia in Griffin, Ga. (Doyle developed an antimicrobial technology that was licensed earlier this year by the makers of Fit produce wash.) said,

"If the bacteria get into the tissue during processing, it’s too late, it’s trapped in the tissue.”

As for pesticides, there’s little scientific evidence to support claims that washes do a better job than water when it comes to removing them, says Anne Riederer, a professor of environmental and occupational health at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

Fit, food and fresh produce

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Douglas Powell

On May 17, 2001, Procter & Gamble announced that it was discontinuing its Fit Fruit & Vegetable Wash in the United States, Canada and Mexico effective September 28, 2001. The company said the market was too small for continued investment.

But FIT is still out there. And someone e-mailed me about it the other day.

I’m not up on the current version of Fit being marketed, but in fall 2000, I contacted P&G to ask for the data substantiating the claim that Fit would eliminate 99.9 per cent of bacteria on fresh produce,

No idea what the new Fit is promoting. But pathogens and chemicals in fresh produce need to be controlled on the farm, and in transportation and distribution.

Diners contract norovirus at California hotel

Posted on February 1, 2008 by Douglas Powell

San Mateo County Director of Environmental Health Dean Peterson said that laboratory tests revealed Thursday that 62 of about 200 people attending a Redwood City-San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce event at Hotel Sofitel on Jan. 24 were infected with norovirus.

The Examiner reports that health officials had pinpointed either the salmon or chicken, which was served as the evening’s main courses, and that nobody who chose the vegetarian entrée fell sick. Contaminated workers could have been the source.

Inspectors found evidence that the Sofitel’s staff was re-using dirty towels to wipe down tables, food being kept too hot or too cold and a dishwasher who was touching clean dishes directly after touching dirty dishes. Hotel management immediately corrected the violations.

Norovirus isn’t good for business

Posted on January 30, 2008 by Douglas Powell

The Daily Journal in California reports that 45 of 200 guests at a Redwood City-San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce gathering at the Hotel Sofitel last week may have contracted the highly communicable norovirus.

The chamber was holding its annual dinner and awards recognition banquet, according to the group’s Web site.

Sofitel spokeswoman Janice Maragakis was cited as saying none of the hotel’s other guests or employees came down ill, but that General Manager Didier de La Ferrier belongs to the chamber and also came down ill. He thought it was simply the flu until the first calls came in.

The story notes that the Hotel Sofitel has no prior violations or health complaints on record.

barfblog

safe food from farm to fork

Tag Archives: Sofitel