Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Allegedly, bad food has led to this bad press

Journalists' banquet at Bali Hai results in norovirus outbreak

Norovirus confirmed, contaminated ice suspected
Norovirus confirmed, contaminated ice suspected

About 60 of the 150 people who attended a July 29 San Diego Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists banquet at the Bali Hai ended up sick with norovirus.

Now, the organization is ending its tradition of holding its annual awards celebration at the Shelter Island restaurant due to the owners’ lack of response to the group's request for an apology and refund.

"We are extremely disappointed by its lack of responsiveness and floored, frankly, that no one from the Bali Hai ever apologized to us for this foodborne illness," chapter president Matt Hall said in a post on the group's website. "We will choose a new venue for next year's banquet."

Larry Baumann, co-owner of the restaurant, said the incident was upsetting for his operation as well.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"We feel terrible that people got sick," he said. "It's been very difficult and the entire staff feels terrible about that."

Norovirus is an easily transmitted illness that leaves its host with nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, fever, and other viral symptoms. Hall said that people missed work and other plans because of the illness; three people allegedly turned up at hospitals and one stayed for a few days.

The San Diego County Health Department eventually labeled it a "food-borne illness" and identified ice as the probable carrier, though they weren't able to make a conclusive determination. Everyone recovered, Hall said.

Baumann said it is important to note that it was norovirus and not food poisoning that resulted in the illnesses.

"There's a lot of misinformation out there, people saying it was food poisoning when it was not," he said. "Norovirus is incredibly contagious — you can get it from shaking hands or touching a doorknob."

While county health officials say it was probably the ice, Baumann said he doesn't believe it. 

"We served 3000 people here in a few days — if it was the ice, the outbreak would have been much worse."

The worst part, he said, is that once lawyers and insurance companies got involved, he was instructed to say little or nothing to anyone.

"You look like a jerk when you can't say anything because of what your people are telling you to do," he said. "Of course we feel terrible about this. But it was not food-borne illness."

Hall disagrees and points to the language in the county report.

"We're journalists and we're not going on assumptions," he said. "We're very careful about that. It's in the county report that this was food-borne. The documents speak for themselves.” The document, meanwhile, does specify "ice" as the suspected culprit.

Hall said he asked Bauman for a full refund of the approximately $7200 the group paid for the event in a letter "while emphasizing that the refund would not satisfy an individual’s claim against the venue."

The group's board thought preliminarily about putting the refunded money into its scholarship fund "so that something good could come out of this." 

Hall said he didn't hear back from Baumann. Instead, he got a voice message from an employee of Liberty Mutual Insurance, the resort's carrier. He returned the call and hasn't heard back for weeks, he said.

For Hall, who was one of the people afflicted, becoming sick after the event wasn't the only uncomfortable part.

"It was weird to be on the other side of the story," he said. 

The group has been holding the event at the Bali Hai for nine or ten years, Baumann said. "They are a nice group and they enjoy themselves," he said. "Their decision is understandable and we wish them well."

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pranksters vandalize Padres billboard in wake of playoff loss

Where’s the bat at?
Norovirus confirmed, contaminated ice suspected
Norovirus confirmed, contaminated ice suspected

About 60 of the 150 people who attended a July 29 San Diego Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists banquet at the Bali Hai ended up sick with norovirus.

Now, the organization is ending its tradition of holding its annual awards celebration at the Shelter Island restaurant due to the owners’ lack of response to the group's request for an apology and refund.

"We are extremely disappointed by its lack of responsiveness and floored, frankly, that no one from the Bali Hai ever apologized to us for this foodborne illness," chapter president Matt Hall said in a post on the group's website. "We will choose a new venue for next year's banquet."

Larry Baumann, co-owner of the restaurant, said the incident was upsetting for his operation as well.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"We feel terrible that people got sick," he said. "It's been very difficult and the entire staff feels terrible about that."

Norovirus is an easily transmitted illness that leaves its host with nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, fever, and other viral symptoms. Hall said that people missed work and other plans because of the illness; three people allegedly turned up at hospitals and one stayed for a few days.

The San Diego County Health Department eventually labeled it a "food-borne illness" and identified ice as the probable carrier, though they weren't able to make a conclusive determination. Everyone recovered, Hall said.

Baumann said it is important to note that it was norovirus and not food poisoning that resulted in the illnesses.

"There's a lot of misinformation out there, people saying it was food poisoning when it was not," he said. "Norovirus is incredibly contagious — you can get it from shaking hands or touching a doorknob."

While county health officials say it was probably the ice, Baumann said he doesn't believe it. 

"We served 3000 people here in a few days — if it was the ice, the outbreak would have been much worse."

The worst part, he said, is that once lawyers and insurance companies got involved, he was instructed to say little or nothing to anyone.

"You look like a jerk when you can't say anything because of what your people are telling you to do," he said. "Of course we feel terrible about this. But it was not food-borne illness."

Hall disagrees and points to the language in the county report.

"We're journalists and we're not going on assumptions," he said. "We're very careful about that. It's in the county report that this was food-borne. The documents speak for themselves.” The document, meanwhile, does specify "ice" as the suspected culprit.

Hall said he asked Bauman for a full refund of the approximately $7200 the group paid for the event in a letter "while emphasizing that the refund would not satisfy an individual’s claim against the venue."

The group's board thought preliminarily about putting the refunded money into its scholarship fund "so that something good could come out of this." 

Hall said he didn't hear back from Baumann. Instead, he got a voice message from an employee of Liberty Mutual Insurance, the resort's carrier. He returned the call and hasn't heard back for weeks, he said.

For Hall, who was one of the people afflicted, becoming sick after the event wasn't the only uncomfortable part.

"It was weird to be on the other side of the story," he said. 

The group has been holding the event at the Bali Hai for nine or ten years, Baumann said. "They are a nice group and they enjoy themselves," he said. "Their decision is understandable and we wish them well."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pranksters vandalize Padres billboard in wake of playoff loss

Where’s the bat at?
Next Article

Filmora 14’s AI Tools Streamline Content Creation for Marketers

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader