Chef Hermes

Norovirus, Noma & PR spin.

Posted by chefhermes on March 11, 2013 · 5 Comments 

They say a week is a long time in politics, maybe somebody should ask the owners of Noma how a week feels, after being on the end of such an amount of negative publicity about their Norovirus outbreak. Let me introduce the main players:

Noma

Noma & it’s chef, Rene Redzepi, have basically been hailed as the second coming, since dislodging el Bulli from the summit of the 50Best Restaurant list in 2010 (by the way, it was leaked here first). An alumni of el Bulli, Redzepi has employed this knowledge & technique, couple with his love for all things foraged & local. Although his 10 day pop-up appearance at Claridges in London, was less well received by a general paying public being charged £195 per person plus drinks.

Norovirus

Norovirus comes in the guise of a few names: Winter vomitting bug & Roskilde Sickness. It is in actual fact a genetically diverse group of single-stranded RNA (An RNA virus is a virus that has RNA (ribonucleic acid) as its genetic material.), non-enveloped viruses in the Caliciviridae family. which sounds long winded, but essentially means to retard it you should take the following steps according to the HPA (Health Protection Agency):

Good hygiene helps limit outbreaks. Wash your hands with soap and water after contact with someone who is ill, and after using the toilet, especially if you have symptoms.

At home, clean hard surfaces with detergent then disinfect with a bleach solution, especially around the toilet, and clean up vomit promptly, to reduce risk of infection.

Where a bleach solution is mentioned, it requires a 1.5% – 7.5% solution of household bleach in water to sanitise work surfaces which may have been exposed to pathogens. Hand washing with soap and water is an effective method for reducing the transmission of norovirus.

So the scene is set, and hopefully I can lay out the facts in a timeline fashion for you.

• Noma had its norovirus outbreak in week 7 (February 12th – 16th, the restaurant is closed Monday & Sunday).
• Initial indication comes in the form of an email from a Danish couple, to inform Noma they had become ill after dining there, but goes unread by somebody who can read Danish until the 18th.
• Second email arrives from another couple complaining of illness. Both emails arrive on 14th & 15th February; the two couples dined at Noma on 12th & 13th respectively.
• 15th February, an un-named kitchen assistant suffers from vomiting & illness after service and is advised not to come to work the following day.
• On 20th February, Noma report these two customer outbreaks to  The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA), but not the kitchen assistant incident.
• After inspection by the authorities, they downgrade Noma’s hygiene rating from 1(best) to 2 on a 1-4 scale.
• Story breaks in the mainstream Danish media with newspaper ‘Politiken‘ first on the 8th of March
• 10th March, Noma releases statement on the norovirus outbreak on their website.
• The same day: Journalist, Lisa Abend writes article for Time magazine clearly with support from Rene Redzepi.
• 11th March, toll rises to 72*.

Some of you are probably asking why I’ve mentioned the Abend/Time article. I have lost any respect for the author of that article, and quiet frankly just stops short of an advertorial for the Danish eatery.

The Abend/Time article paints a picture that Noma was unlucky, and that due to the high profile of Noma the story has been exaggerated. The facts are these;

• 72* people had food poisoning from Noma because systems failed.
• The sink that didn’t have hot water was only fixed after, according to DVFA, their visit – a full week after the incident first broke.
• The food which was prepared by the un-named kitchen assistant (chilli & dill at least, according to the DVFA report) wasn’t destroyed. But used in staff food the following Tuesday, a full 4 days after he/she had reported their illness & giving potential to spread the virus within the team .
• Is any of this mentioned in the Abend/Time article? No, instead the author seems to care about the fact that Rene Redzepi picked up 50 new twitter followers in an hour, because Justin Bieber might be coming for dinner.

Dear friends thank you for your concern. Here are the facts! Best wishes Rene Redzepi and the entire noma crew http://noma.dk/news/

We have been in direct contact with all the customers affected.

@ReneRedzepiNoma you wrote that all guests were contacted? We got sick.really sick.. And were not contacted.