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Food poisoning closes restaurant in luxury Bvlgari building in Ginza

22 Comments

An outbreak of food poisoning has forced a high-end Italian restaurant to close in the Bvlgari high-end jewelry brand building in Ginza.

According to police and health officials, 49 people suffered norovirus symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea at a dinner at Il Ristorante Luca Fantin on Dec 11. Fuji TV reported that they were among 138 people attending a company party. They became sick the next day.

Chuo Ward health officials ordered the restaurant, which voluntarily closed last Friday, to close for three days from Tuesday until Thursday.

Health officials said the likely cause was a smoked salmon and couscous salad.

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22 Comments
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Japan has the best toilets in the world, but only about 60% wash their hands after use. Ever seen soap at a train station?

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Toronto's restaurant scene was a mess a while back with many people getting sick. So they implemented a DineSafe program that measures the health and safety of all restaurants across the city and has a Green / Yellow / Red sign on the front of each restaurant indicating their status. (red means they're closed, yellow missed targets, green is good). This drastically improved that industry. Also their inspections can be publicly read online over time to see how seriously they take public health. Green today might not have been green a few months ago.

Tokyo would do well with such a model or something similar. Tokyo would love it, it requires a panel and discussions. It would put the pressure on businesses to clean up and prove they are safe. It would probably collapse under corruption so it would take a strong leader to keep it working.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Japan has the best toilets in the world, but only about 60% wash their hands after use. Ever seen soap at a train station?

60%, that is a very generous figure. Every time at work and out in public, the amount of time I see people who never wash their hands after using the toilet is extremely high. Although most station toilets I have been do have soap dispensers, only a few I have noticed didn't have.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

I once saw a kitchen staff in the same building visiting the lop and not washing his hands afterwards! Sf2k ... the idea of implementing the color coded signs is an excellent one! @sensenotsocommon... hygienic people !

6 ( +7 / -1 )

I agree with the hot water issue. The amount of times I've used toilet facilities in restaurants, only to find the hot tap seems to be welded closed.

Good soap / hand wash and hot water missing from many establishments here.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

I got food poisoning once, not a nice thing! Threw up for a few days and felt miserable!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Many readers here don't know the obvious fact that norovirus is impossible to stop by washing hands. It becomes airborne as soon as someone vomits (or has a vigorous bowel movement caused by the norovirus) in a public toilet. Virtually everyone else visiting that toilet afterwards is infected, washed hands or not!. We're too quick to blame the restaurants in such cases, but 99% of the time the carrier is a sick customer.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I have two thoughts. One is that sick food preparers shouldn't come to work. And second, although know it can't always be avoided, Japanese food workers seem unnecessarily barehanded when preparing foods.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

It's "Bulgari", not "Bvlgari". The latter is just the stylized writing used in the logo (since u and v were identical in ancient Rome or whatever).

4 ( +4 / -0 )

nice restaurant. the roof terrace in summer for free flow lunch is even better. shame about this.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Who likes to wash their hands in cold water in winter?

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Just takes fecal matter or one dirty infected worker to bring it all down. Uninfected bowel excrement is not dangerous but kind of ewe.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Who likes to wash their hands in cold water in winter?

me, is it wrong?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Perhaps they should change the name to 'Bulgeri' now.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Norovirus is not exactly food poisoning, it's more like people just didn't wash their hands however it can be airborne. When it becomes airborne it can no longer be classified as food poisoning. In the case of 49 people being infected this is probably what happened.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Health officials said the likely cause was a smoked salmon . . .

Don'cha know it? There's always one in every school.

And to think this occurred in the high-end Bvl-geri building . . . shameful.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Norovirus is preventable:

Practice proper hand hygiene

Wash your hands carefully with soap and water—

Especially after using the toilet and changing diapers, and always before eating, preparing, or handling food. Noroviruses can be found in your vomit or stool even before you start feeling sick. The virus can stay in your stool for 2 weeks or more after you feel better. So, it is important to continue washing your hands often during this time.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can be used in addition to hand washing. But, they should not be used as a substitute for washing with soap and water.

Plenty more information on the internet.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

On my opinion and experience, the norovirus was carry inside the restaurant from of course a customer, I do not believe from the salmon!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Bertie. Wrong, alcohol has little to no impact on Noro. Only a thorough soaping and rinsing will. Bleach works too, but I wouldn't recommend it for your hands.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

ginza hostess clubs must have suffered labor shortage

0 ( +0 / -0 )

all it takes is one sick person to have handled food and it spreads easily. Also lax cleaning standards or the wrong cleaner on counters and you have additional transmission. Doesn't matter how expensive the restaurant or how cheap, microbes don't care. If the health of employees is irrelevant to businesses then this is a inevitable result

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Looks like a buffet, probably. So could be a customer or an employee infecting the food.

http://barfblog.com/tags/bvlgari-il-ristorante-luca-fantin/

... The affected people were among 138 participants in a stand-up party held at Bvlgari Il Ristorante Luca Fantin on Dec. 11, and their symptoms appeared on Dec. 12-13, ... This was the second norovirus poisoning case at the restaurant after one in March 2010.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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