To report to environmental health (more a WWYD)

[QueenofLouisiana]

We went out for lunch on Saturday with family- we met at the restaurant and left from there to go home. The meal wasn't great and we ended up with "free" desserts as we were kept waiting for 90 minutes before our meals arrived (it wasn't particularly busy). However, it was fine and we all had fun.

Following day we leave to go on a short break, but on Sunday night DS was violently sick- about 6 times. We abandoned the trip, cancelled his birthday treat and resigned ourselves to a quiet few days. He was sweaty, headaches, sore all over. (He understood why and was just too ill to want his treat anyway).

However, his cousins came down with the same thing at almost exactly the same time. They were all throwing up all Sunday night and MIL and FIL both had diarrhoea and nausea on Sunday/Monday.

By Wednesday, I was ill (same symptoms as DS) as was my SIL. I think we probably caught it from our children. I know why DS wasn't fussed about his birthday, I've barely moved from the sofa for 36 hours!

My mum thinks it sounds like norovirus and that we should inform environmental health as we may have picked it up st the restaurant. I'm not sure they would do anything anyway. WWYD?

Sorry- huge post!

I doubt you would be reacting to the same food source 3 days apart. It could well just be a bug but you could report to restaurant anyway.

Worth reporting to the restaurant in a "just in case you have other reports" way rather than a "your food made me sick" way. I think if you caught it 3 days later it probably was a bug rather than food poisoning but could potentially have come from there if poor hygiene among staff or ill customers

Op you call EH and they will tell you when the place had their last check.

If they have concerns they go down there themselves and have a look round. If its a clean well run place with good procedures all will be well, if its lax, they will tell them to clean up their act.

No harm done either way.

always report to EH with FP!

You dont report to the restuarant alone, because sometimes they dont do proper checks.

Report there as well if you want but its EH who are going to do proper checks.

Ring the local authority and report to Environmental Health. They will ask you some questions, possibly supply you with a little pot for a sample (sorry) and probably visit to do a spot check on the restaurants hygiene. Don't expect it to be wildly exciting but it is worth doing to rule out any serious issues at the restaurant, for the benefit of future diners.

Could perfectly well be a bug like norovirus that the kids/ PIL got first and then passed to you and SIL. Did kids/PIL eat anything that you didn't?

If it is a viral bug then might be nothing to do with the restaurants hygiene - could be that another diner, even someone in your party, passed it on. It could also be that they aren't being careful enough about general hand hygiene, cleaning the public loos, or excluding staff from work for 48 hours after a tummy bug.

That sounds like the sickness we all came down with, last week. It wasn't good it was a bug.

You can't catch food poisoning? Probably a bug. Did you all eat the same thing.

If it's a bug or Norovirus then that's just bad luck and nothing to do with the restaurant. Norovrus is 48-72 hour incubation so your DS picked it up prior to the meal.
Food poisoning is much quicker generally 6-12 hours at the most.

It's complicated Wolfiefan. Food poisoning bugs in the first place you get from food, but you can then pass them on to others, usually in the same household, via what's charmingly known as faeco-oral transmission.

Alternatively it could be a viral bug like norovirus that passes merrily from human to human, but could still be the result of poor hygiene in the restaurant (eg waiter or kitchen staff unwell, not excluded from work/ doesn't wash hands well, transfers bug onto plates when serving).

Thanks for all your thoughts. I wouldn't have thought much of it if one of the children had been ill followed by everyone else- it was the fact that everyone was ill pretty much simultaneously, except SIL and me. I thought I probably got it from cleaning up vomit (didn't have much to hand in a hotel room, so not my finest cleaning hour).

Everyone ate similar food- again except me as I'm vegetarian. Chicken and burgers for everyone else.

As we're all over the worst I don't think we could be tested anyway.

Thanks again.