Several friends and I (all adults) went to the Veteran's Day dinner on Monday, November 14 from 5 - 7:30 PM. We all ordered the Red Salmon. Two of us ordered the "Blackened" version. Everything tasted great. . .
Though at 0530 the next day I woke
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up to use the toilet. It was every 5 - 10 minutes for the first 24 hours - smelled like rotten fish, but similar to that of the Salmon of the previous night. Mostly liquid, as anything else I had attempted to eat didn’t even stop to get fully digested, it basically shot right through my GI system. Jeeeez, where did all that fluid come from??? Also foul smelling and nauseating belches of bad fish - lots of gas and severe bloating, the bad odor was even wafting up - at first, I thought someone in the neighborhood was getting a septic tank pumped - then I realized it was from ME!!!
I attempted to no avail: Imodium, Mint, and Peppermint - these NORMALLY work for diarrhea. Later in the evening, I tried some ginger tea (after doing a net search for other cures), which seemed to slow it down.
I was starving as my body was losing all the nutrients. I DID drink lots of purified water and every other drink I had added Vitalyte for the electrolytes. Probably why I didn’t dehydrate and am still alive, at this point!
I called CJ's Northridge Manager yesterday and she asked me what I had for lunch. We went to the Burbank store and all had the Tri-tip and Shrimp. She said they are very cautious and there is next to an impossibility I could have gotten food poisoning from their restaurant, but she would contact their corporate office.
Today, Wednesday the 16th at 4PM, their Corporate foodservice quality control guy called me and said they have all these procedures and it is a slim chance I could have got food poisoning from their restaurant, that of all the hundreds of meals they served that night, they have had NO OTHER COMPLAINTS and I must be an isolated case (the CYA excuse/lie),but they don't want to lose me as a customer and hope that I return (not even an offer of a comp). Now it's 6 PM and I think the worst part of the porcelain maelstrom is over.
One of my 2 friends who dined with me, called and said she had the trots the last 2 days, as well - also smelling of the Salmon. The 3rd person called me Tuesday afternoon and said he was not going to be available for a few days - being "nice" (even though we had plans for Tuesday night). So that's all 3 of us getting FOOD POISONING!!! This was the first time I ever had their fish. I guess I’ll stick to the steak - never had a problem with that. But, then again, not all of the LATINO cooks usually adhere to the proper hand washing techniques - which may be the actual cause of the problem: Food borne Pathogens! (I was a Safety Consultant in a former life and I inspected a LOT of restaurants. I keep asking myself why I still eat out. . .)
So, Isolated case, huh?
(The only good side to this horrible experience was that I lost 10 pounds!)
| Symptoms: Diarrhea, Nausea, Gas, Bloating, Burping
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