S’porean Blames Itacho Sushi For Wife’s Salmonella Infection, But SFA Says Samples Were Fine

Itacho Sushi At Jewel Changi Said They Received No Complaints From The Other 434 Customers That Day

UPDATE (6.27pm): Itacho Sushi has released an official statement on Facebook, saying that SFA has confirmed that their samples tested were satisfactory. The article has been updated to reflect the latest developments.

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As we are in the midst of the holiday season, many are heading out to restaurants for a special treat.

One Singaporean couple recently dined at popular chain Itacho Sushi’s outlet at Jewel Changi, but the wife, unfortunately, ended up with food poisoning.

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After suffering from fever and stomachaches, she was diagnosed with Salmonella poisoning.

Her husband, Mr Wong, penned a lengthy Facebook post on 24 Dec, documenting the unfortunate events that happened to his wife.

Ate raw food at sushi restaurant

In his post, Mr Wong shared that he and his wife went to the Itacho Sushi outlet on 13 Dec for dinner.

Itacho Sushi’s Jewel Changi outlet
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One day later, his wife apparently developed a fever and stomachache.

Not “thinking too much about it”, she chose not to see a doctor initially.

However, the stomachaches persisted the next day. Hence, the pair decided to visit a general practitioner where she received an injection and some medication.

Despite consuming the medicine, her temperature continued to rise and was admitted to Mount Alvernia hospital that night.

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There, she was diagnosed with Salmonella, which was likely caused by “consumption of uncooked meat or seafood”.

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His wife continued to suffer from painful stomach cramps for 3 more days and was only discharged a week later on 22 Dec.

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Itacho Sushi apparently did not want to take responsibility

According to Mr Wong, the only raw food that his wife consumed was from Itacho Sushi’s Jewel Changi outlet.

When he contacted the restaurant, a staff allegedly said that “it may not be [their] fault as it was only one case”, and hence did not want to take responsibility.

Subsequently, Mr Wong contacted Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and was told that the outlet “failed on some criteria”.

However, they did not specify “which aspect… failed their expectations”. SFA did say that they’d take action against the restaurant.

Food poisoning cases happened at Itacho Sushi

This is not the outlet’s first food poisoning case, according to Mr Wong.

A review on iwaspoisoned.com showed that earlier in November, another couple fell “severely ill” after eating there.

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There were 2 other cases of food poisoning at other Itacho Sushi outlets too.

Restaurant says food samples were confirmed satisfactory

When contacted by MS News, Itacho Sushi said SFA confirmed “in writing… that the samples were satisfactory.”

They shared,

It is unfortunate that Mr Wong chose to widely publish his complaint on Facebook even before the results of the lab testing were completed.

The representative also said they served 436 customers that day but did not receive other complaints.

Furthermore, the representative claimed that the couple shared sashimi dishes, but Mr Wong was not infected with Salmonella.

The spokesperson also emphasised that “food hygiene is of the utmost importance” and they have always complied strictly with regulations,

… we looked into our outlet’s CCTV… no act of negligence was found on our end.

In fact, Itacho Sushi has maintained an A for their hygiene grading for the past 10 years and chefs are asked to check their ingredients twice a day and sanitise their workspaces hourly.

Hope she has made a full recovery

Commiserations to Mr Wong’s wife for having gone through the tough ordeal. We hope she has since made a full recovery.

While it might be impossible to pinpoint where Mr Wong’s wife got the Salmonella virus from, we certainly hope other Singaporeans will be more careful when eating raw food.

If an establishment looks dodgy or unclean, perhaps it’s better to stay away and patronise a different store.

Featured image adapted from Young Ocean and Facebook.