Fishbowl responds to concerns after contagious outbreak in New York

The owners of a rapidly growing fast food chain have responded to customer concerns after an outbreak at one of its locations.

The owners of a popular Aussie fast food chain, which recently landed in the US, have responded to customer concerns after an outbreak at one of its locations.

Customers have expressed concerns regarding food poisoning at popular poke bowl establishment Fishbowl, which trades as Thisbowl in New York, following an issue in June.

A staff member unwittingly came into work while unwell with a contagious illness at a location in New York City in June, and as a result other staff and customers became sick.

One social media user, @anyonecancookforreal, asked: “Has anyone else in NYC gotten debilitating food poisoning from eating Thisbowl?

“Three of my friends have gotten poisoned after eating there on separate occasions and we need to know if this is an epidemic.”

The post prompted several people to express concerns over the quality of the food from the brand while others claimed to have had similar experiences since it opened in New York last year — often blaming the salmon, according to Grub Street. However, a spokesperson for Thisbowl has since responded to the complaints and given their account of what occurred.

An incident occurred at Thisbowl in New York after an employee unknowingly came to work unwell. Picture: TikTok/@anyonecancookreally

“Earlier this summer, one of Thisbowl’s employees was unknowingly infected with a contagious illness that affected some staff and customers,” a spokesperson said.

“It was swiftly addressed with a third-party food safety expert and in full co-operation with the Department of Health, who found no issues with our food safety or handling practices. After a thorough investigation, the root cause of the issue was not related to food quality, freshness or supply, but a contagious illness that was unknowingly brought in by an employee.

“The wellbeing of our customers and team remains our top priority, and we stand by the integrity of our operations.”

The post from the social media user was linked to this outbreak.

In Australia, there are 4.7 million cases of foodborne illness every year, according to the Food Authority. It accounts for 47,900 hospitalisations and 38 deaths. Around 80 products are recalled every year, mostly due to contamination or allergens that weren’t declared on the label. Issues with food are typically linked to mistakes when it comes to food handling or poor hygiene practices.

At the end of last year, McDonald’s stores in the United States faced an e.coli outbreak due to an issue with onions and romaine lettuce. In 2018, Australia faced a listeria outbreak that was linked back to rockmelon.

One of Fishbowl's founders, Nathan Dalah, has responded to concerns. Picture: Instagram/Fishbowl

Nathan Dalah, one of the three founders of Fishbowl, told news.com.au that the business was still thriving, despite the concerns about food quality following the New York incident.

“We’re coming off of one of the busiest days of the summer, probably one of the busiest lunches we’ve had. We’ve got a loyal customer base and they return at an incredibly high rate,” he said.

Mr Dalah described what happened in June as an “outlier incident”, and gave insight into some of the food safety practices the business has. This includes an alarm sounding every 15 minutes to indicate staff need to change their gloves and another alarm every 20 minutes to indicate a need for sanitising.

Fishbowl has two stores in New York. Picture: Instagram/Fishbowl

At the end of each day, after staff have cleaned and shut down the store, a commercial cleaning crew comes in and conducts a professional clean daily. In addition to this, as recently as last week, one store faced a gruelling four hour inspection by the New York Department of Health and received an A grade — the highest possible. These inspections are conducted at random. There is also a dedicated food safety team, news.com.au understands.

Mr Dalah, who along with fellow founders Nic Pestalozzi and Casper Ettleson, still regularly works in stores serving customers. He revealed the business self reported to the Department of Health when the June issue was discovered.

“We take this very seriously, we understand who our customer is and we understand the level of trust they put in us and as a result, food safety is the number one thing,” he said.

He described the business as “intensely dedicated” to food safety. He said he understood the business served a “highly sensitive product” — such as sashimi grade salmon that is fresh daily and isn’t designed to be overcooked — and that factored into every decision.

Originally published as Fishbowl responds to concerns after contagious outbreak in New York