Has anyone had food poisoning from icecream at a local cafe? (name removed)

[Jellybeanz]

My youngest son was violently sick after an icecream today and that was the only thing he ate differently to me or the rest of the family. 

Just trying to work out if it's a bug or down to what he ate...

Anyone else had a reaction?

Thanks 

Edited 3 hours ago by Administrator
Removed name of cafe from title due to lack of evidence

[NewWave]

There are a great many bugs around at the moment.

[bonaome]

Norovirus is rife, apparently.

[beansprout]

Oh for heavens sake, kid has an upset stomach or a bug… 

are you trying to blame cafe?low response rate..

You a new Mom? Can understand concern, flagging but your child unless a baby or toddler, has  just got a bug…temp or constant upheave, obviously Kings or ambulance

.  

 

 

 

[Sue]

 

On 01/03/2025 at 18:53, Jellybeanz said:

My youngest son was violently sick after an icecream today and that was the only thing he ate differently to me or the rest of the family. 

Just trying to work out if it's a bug or down to what he ate...

Anyone else had a reaction?

Thanks 

Places selling ice cream have to conform to really strict hygiene regulations.

It's highly unlikely that this café  would risk their customer's health, or their reputation, by not adhering to them.

As said above, there are lots of things going around at the moment.

Edited 2 hours ago by Sue
Removed reference to the cafe originally named in the original post

[Penguin68]

However, it is worth noting that an area which is selling food outside (and to children) is quite likely to attract customers who are Noro-virus carriers and may contaminate things. Norovirus is very catching. One of the positive results from Lockdown and the emphasis on hand washing was a significant decrease in seasonal afflictions such as Norovirus.

So this may have been associated with the ice cream purchase and consumption but not consequential on specific hygiene failures by its purveyor. Considering just how catching Norovirus is, if it is that you will need to exercise considerable care at home to avoid it spreading round your family.

[just_browsing]

Our son really doesn't interact with others much and very rarely gets out, but when he does, an ice cream at the cafe is a favourite treat (even when it's freezing outside). Like yours, it's a single-person data point - in our case, no illness.

Bugs can come from anything/anyone - other people are far more likely to be the unwitting carriers, in my view.

Having gone there for years and years, never had a concern re the ice cream. And generally do worry about linking an establishment with illness/standards, even as a question as, even subconsciously, the association may stick in people's minds (and if they stop the ice cream, we'll be devastated!). 

[Sue]

34 minutes ago, just_browsing said:

Our son really doesn't interact with others much and very rarely gets out, but when he does, an ice cream at the cafe is a favourite treat (even when it's freezing outside). Like yours, it's a single-person data point - in our case, no illness.

Bugs can come from anything/anyone - other people are far more likely to be the unwitting carriers, in my view.

Having gone there for years and years, never had a concern re the ice cream. And generally do worry about linking an establishment with illness/standards, even as a question as, even subconsciously, the association may stick in people's minds (and if they stop the ice cream, we'll be devastated!). 

Yes, even  just the thread title will stick in people's minds, with the specific cafe mentioned. And they will see it every time they look at the list of threads in this section of the forum.

It might be a good idea to change it to remove the cafe name and say something like "a local cafe"?

Edited Sunday at 10:28 by Sue

[Penguin68]

I agree with Sue here, but it is reasonable to raise a concern - there have been incidents of mass poisoning (from restaurants and cafes, supermarkets and food sellers such as butchers and fishmongers) where early warning (or a lack of it) has had a significant impact. But where this concern has been reasonably raised, but then discovered to be likely misplaced, it is a good thing to obfuscate the retailer identity.

Of course, by removing the specificity, this might get later readers to worry that other ice-cream outlets locally were being implicated!

Bit of a lose-lose situation really!

[Alec1]

Probably won't be the actual ice cream, but I tend to avoid actual cones where they are handled before giving to customer....that's in general though

 

[malumbu]

I'd take some stool samples, keep them in the fridge, book a GPs appointment, and ask for them to be analysed.

Kids are sick from time to time.  We all were.  We all are occasionally.  Unless there is a serious outbreak of a bug that can potentially hospitalise a lot of people, then public health will not get involved.

For your own benefit you can always visit the cafe and check out their scores on the doors food safety rating and if they are not displaying one, question why.

A few years ago there was a large e coli outbreak at the Glastonbury festival, cows graze the land and some festival goers were not being too hygienic.  A reminder to us all to wash our hands etc.  with COVID this should be second nature 

 

[OutOfFocus]

5 hours ago, malumbu said:

always visit the cafe

Or https://ratings.food.gov.uk/business-search

 

[Happyme5]

I doubt it was the ice cream.   Lots of winter bugs around.   Noro virus is around ATM and it can have a sudden onset.   It is horrible to see little ones being ill but hopefully it will pass soon.   Call 111 if you are concerned.   

[hpsaucey]

Great food hygiene link Out of Focus!

[Edited to remove link to cafe hygiene report] ... 

Might want to change the title OP, so the poor cafe doesn't get it in the neck? 

 

HP

 

 

Edited 31 minutes ago by hpsaucey

[Sue]

I had to phone King's this morning.

The first thing you get is a recorded message saying basically that norovirus (I can't remember the exact words) is everywhere at the moment, and please don't come to the hospital if you have symptoms.

I would strongly suspect that anybody with sickness and/or diarrhoea at the moment is very much more likely to have caught norovirus or similar than to have got food poisoning from an ice cream.

Like COVID, one person in the family can easily get it first, and doesn't necessarily pass it on to the others, especially if they take appropriate precautions.

I am very tempted to ask if it was vegan chocolate flavoured ice-cream, but I will resist. Oh, I can't 🤣

I hope your son gets better soon 

Edited 15 hours ago by Sue

[Happyme5]

Thanks for the info Sue it must be really prolific ATM if Kings have an advisory audio when we call.   So all in all we think this illness was probably caused by Noro virus and not by  ice cream of any flavour. 

[malumbu]

The title could be very damaging to a business.  And as such defamatory.

[Sue]

3 minutes ago, malumbu said:

The title could be very damaging to a business.  And as such defamatory.

I agree. I can't think why it hasn't been changed.

[Zak]

Yes. You should change the title of this post since it’s most unfair on the cafe. 

[Jellybeanz]

14 hours ago, Sue said:

I had to phone King's this morning.

The first thing you get is a recorded message saying basically that norovirus (I can't remember the exact words) is everywhere at the moment, and please don't come to the hospital if you have symptoms.

I would strongly suspect that anybody with sickness and/or diarrhoea at the moment is very much more likely to have caught norovirus or similar than to have got food poisoning from an ice cream.

Like COVID, one person in the family can easily get it first, and doesn't necessarily pass it on to the others, especially if they take appropriate precautions.

I am very tempted to ask if it was vegan chocolate flavoured ice-cream, but I will resist. Oh, I can't 🤣

I hope your son gets better soon

Thankfully he's better Sue, thanks to your usual sarcasm - can always rely on the fact you have nothing better to do than reply to every one of my posts. Clearly I'll have to change my ED forum name 😉

Apologies to anyone offended. We've all eaten in this cafe many many times so I've put this down to a one off. Yes obviously kids get sick. Gosh I didn't realise when ED forum became so full of passive aggressive, sarcastic people. Won't be posting again in a hurry - cue the afore mentioned type of replies in response no doubt...

Oh and this incident was most definitely the icecream or person serving it having dirty hands or gloves, as my son was fine after he was sick. So no bug. 

For the avoidance of doubt nobody meant for this to affect any business, so once again apols for mentioning by name. Happy icecream eating everyone.