More than 80 People Get Sick After Los Angeles Times ‘101 Best Restaurants’ Event

California health officials are investigating and an oyster recall is underway after dozens of people who attended a Los Angeles Times food festival fell ill. 

More than 80 people who went to the newspaper’s “101 Best Restaurants” event on December 3 reported suffering from symptoms including diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, and vomiting, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said. 

Raw oysters that were served to event attendees came from Pacific Northwest Shellfish Co., the “original harvester/producer.” The S&M Shellfish Co. has since issued an “urgent recall” for the products sold as Fanny Bay, Buckley Bay, and Royal Miyagi Oysters harvested between the first and ninth of December. 

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the recalled oysters were shipped to distributors and retailers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC.

They “may have been distributed to other states, as well,” the FDA stated.

Company and health officials said the oysters contributed to an “outbreak” of norovirus, which lines up with the symptoms those who got sick after the food event reported experiencing. 

“A person usually develops symptoms 12 to 48 hours after being exposed to norovirus. Most people with norovirus illness get better within 1 to 3 days,” the FDA said. 

Mark Kapczynski, one of the people who became ill after consuming the oysters, told CBS News that it “was pretty painful, probably the most painful experience I have ever had.”

“Certainly never thought it was the 101 event — these restaurants are too good; couldn’t possibly be that,” Kapczynski, who is still recovering, said.

He recalled feeling bloated immediately after eating the oysters, and feeling worse the next day.

“The abdomen pain has just had me curled up in a ball and tremendous chills — just couldn’t get comfortable,” Kapczynski described.

“Oysters seem to really hit patients hard. When they come into the ER they’re very, very ill,” Dr. Ali Jamehdor told the outlet. “Vomiting, diarrhea, significant abdominal cramping and it’s all due to a bug called vibrio. It’s a very specific bacteria that’s specific to oysters and causes an illness that hits people very, very hard.”

Providence, a Los Angeles seafood restaurant with two Michelin stars, said they were unaware that the oysters they served at the event were contaminated.

“The nature of norovirus is such that it would be undetectable to the vendor, the restaurant or the health inspectors who were onsite given that norovirus does not affect the appearance, odor or flavor of the shellfish,” the restaurant said in a statement to CBS.