Sorry Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan

Food Safety News reports – Known for its Chirashi bowl, but called The Fremont Bowl for its Seattle location, a small, but popular Japanese restaurant was forced to close Friday by Public Health. Seattle-King County Public Health closed The Fremont Bowl, located at  4258 Fremont Ave N, Ste #4262, Seattle, WA 98103, at 10:45 a.m., Aug. 10, 2018, due to the following food safety violations:

  • Foodborne illness outbreak.
  • Failure to wash hands as required
  • Improper food temperature control
  • Risk of cross contaminations not eliminated
  • Inadequate fresh produce washing procedure followed

Public Health is investigating an outbreak of salmonellosis, which caused by Salmonella bacteria. At this time, the source of the illnesses has not been identified.

The agency learned on Aug. 8 of four people from three separate meal parties that have reported illness after eating at Fremont Bowl in Seattle from July 27-29, 2018.

Three of the four people who got sick tested positive for Salmonella by a healthcare provider. The fourth person ate at Fremont Bowl prior to becoming ill with symptoms consistent with salmonellosis.

One of the ill people was hospitalized and has since recovered.

Environmental Health investigators completed an inspection at Fremont Bowl on Aug. 9, finding potential risk factors, including inadequate hand washing, lack of temperature controls, and risk of cross-contamination. Fremont Bowl management was informed about corrective measures that were required.

Environmental Health investigators re-visited on Aug. 10  and closed the establishment because many of the corrective actions were not completed.

Fremont Bowl will not be allowed to reopen until Public Health confirms they achieve a thorough cleaning and disinfection of their establishment, adopt safe food handling practices to minimize cross-contamination risks, and any remaining processed ready-to-eat food products are discarded. Furthermore, employees will be required to attend food safety training before being allowed to handle food.

A Chirashi (means scattered) is a big bowl of rice mixed with your choice of fish, vegetables, and other ingredients.