Food Poisoning Law Blog

Seven cases of E. coli have been linked to Sekiya’s, a Kapahula restaurant. The most recent case occurred this month, and the others occurred in December. In response, the Hawaii State Health Department temporarily shut down the restaurant.

The recurrence of E. coli suggests more needs to be done to eradicate E. coli from the restaurant:     

Following the confirmation of E. coli O157:H7 cases in December, DOH sanitarians inspected Sekiya’s restaurant and worked with management to eliminate practices that may have contributed to the illnesses. Follow-up inspections within three days of the initial investigation revealed that all major violations had been corrected. Environmental samples were collected during the follow-up inspections, and all samples have turned up negative for E. coli O157:H7 and other disease causing bacteria after undergoing testing at the State Laboratory.

Although all major health code concerns had been corrected before the restaurant’s closing last weekend, the occurrence of a case more than five weeks after the initial cluster of illnesses led DOH to conclude there was still potential for the bacteria to be present in the establishment. Restaurant operations have been suspended temporarily while more extensive sanitation measures are taken. The DOH is also continuing to investigate the exact source of the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria.