Scombroid illnesses associated with I Love Sushi on Lake Bellevue in Bellevue

Summary

Public Health investigated an outbreak of scombroid poisoning associated with I Love Sushi on Lake Bellevue in Bellevue. Based on our investigation, people may have become sick from eating tuna and albacore.

Scombroid poisoning (also called histamine fish poisoning) is an allergic-type reaction caused by eating specific types of fish that have high levels of histamine because they were not properly refrigerated. Symptoms include flushing, headache, diarrhea, and stomach cramps which usually start within a few minutes to an hour after eating the fish. Symptoms typically last a few hours to two days and often go away without treatment.

The outbreak appears to be over, and our investigation is complete.

Illnesses

Since July 15, 2026, three people reported becoming sick after eating food from the restaurant on July 13, 2026. They reported one or more symptoms including flushing, rapid heart rate, headache, palpitations (racing/skipping heartbeat), rash, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, abdominal cramps, itching, and dry mouth.

Public Health actions

We interviewed all three people who became sick to learn more about their symptoms and what they ate.

On July 31, 2026, we visited the restaurant and found that they were not keeping food, including fish, properly refrigerated. This could have contributed to the three people becoming sick.

We provided the restaurant with education on how to correct the food safety problems and emphasized the importance of notifying Public Health whenever they learn of customers who become sick after eating at their restaurant.

We returned to the restaurant on August 12 and confirmed that they fixed the food safety problems.

Laboratory testing

No laboratory testing was done.