Gastrointestinal illness associated with Kobuta & Ookami Katsu & Sake in Redmond

Summary

Public Health is investigating an outbreak of stomach sickness associated with Kobuta & Ookami Katsu & Sake in Redmond. We have not found a specific food or drink item that might have caused the illness.

Illnesses

Since December 26, 2024, two people let us know they became sick after eating at Kobuta & Ookami Katsu & Sake in Redmond on December 22, 2024. Both people had one or more signs of a bacterial infection, including feeling sick, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and chills, but there could have been a different cause.

We have not found any sick restaurant workers.

Public Health actions

We visited the restaurant on January 10, 2025, and observed several concerning food safety practices that could lead to cross contamination of foods and the spread of disease, including:

• Workers were not washing their hands properly and were using the same gloves when handling different food items.
• Raw foods were handled in ways that could contaminate ready-to-eat foods.
• Food was stored in ways that could result in cross contamination between different kinds of raw meat.

The restaurant also did not keep an illness log for workers. While the restaurant does not allow restaurant workers to work while sick, we informed them that any worker must wait at least 24 hours after symptoms stop before returning to work.

We provided the restaurant with resources and guidance to address these issues, including instructions for management to ask workers about their symptoms before returning to work to reduce the risk of spreading illness. We plan to return within 14 days to ensure that all identified problems have been solved.