291 Victims in the 2016 Hawaii Raw Scallop Hepatitis A Outbreak: Genki Sushi Linked to One of the Deaths
The FDA, CDC, and Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) opened an investigate last year after it became apparent that the number of victims of Hepatitis A were spiking in the Hawaiian Islands. By August 15, 2016, the DOH had traced a number of these illnesses to consumption of raw scallops at Genki Sushi restaurants on Oahu and Kauai. A search of the records indicated that the scallops had been imported by Sea Port Products Corp. in Washington state from De Oro Resources Inc. in the Philippines.
The FDA quickly undertook testing of Sea Port Bay Scallops and confirmed they contained Hepatitis A.
On August 17, 2016, representatives of DOH, FDA and the CDC contacted Sea Port Products Corp to inform them that a trace-back investigation, collaborated by both epidemiological and laboratory studies, had implicated their scallops as the likely source of a massive Hepatitis A outbreak. The very next day Sea Port Products Corp initiated a recall of lots 5885, 5886, and 5887 of frozen Bay Scallops produced on the 23rd and 24th of 2015 that were distributed to customers in California, Hawaii, and Nevada.
Due to the potential 50 day incubation period for Hepatitis A, new cases were discovered through September of 2016.
The Hawaii Raw Scallop Hepatitis A outbreak was considered over when no new cases were identified in October of 2016.
