Salmonella-tainted farm must halt its operations

A large Kahuku farm must stop selling and distributing its sea asparagus and seaweed products because salmonella, which has sickened at least 14, was found on the farm last week.

The Department of Health announced Thursday that test results show salmonella was found in one of the water lines that supplies rinse tanks at Olakai Hawaii, said Peter Oshiro, manager of the Health Department’s Sanitation Branch. The bacteria also was found in the packing and processing tanks and in seaweed samples.

The water comes from a brackish water well controlled by the farm, which is owned by Honolulu-based Marine AgriFuture LLC, a major supplier of ogo (seaweed) and sea asparagus to supermarkets and restaurants in Hawaii, according to the Health Department. Its products also might have been shipped to California and Washington state.

On Monday the Health Department announced most of the 14 Oahu children and adults sickened by salmonella reported consuming limu (seaweed) poke. Preliminary tests showed the seaweed might have been the source of the bacteria. Those affected developed the illness from mid- to late October. Four cases required hospitalization.

Diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, nausea and vomiting were among the symptoms.

Marine Agrifuture LLC was ordered Monday to stop distributing its seaweed products, which include Kahuku Ogo and Robusta Ogo. On Thursday the cease-and-desist order included sea asparagus.

The Health Department also has notified distributors and retailers to immediately remove from sale or distribution all sea asparagus and seaweed products.

Times Supermarkets announced it removed limu poke from its shelves Monday, and on Thursday pulled all the suspect products off its shelves.

Alan Wong’s Honolulu has sea asparagus on its menu but said it has stopped serving it until it receives clearance of the produce.

Olakai Hawaii names other restaurants and hotels that use its products, including Chef Mavro, Roy’s, the Halekulani and the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort &Spa.

Wenhao Sun, manager and co-founder of Marine Agrifuture LLC, has not responded to calls, texts and emails from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Sun is a former researcher with the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. He co-founded Marine AgriFuture in 2006. The company supplies Whole Foods Market, two Oahu Costco stores and several farmers markets with several products.

Marine AgriFuture will be allowed to resume its sale of the products “once it demonstrates that the risk of contamination from pathogenic bacteria has been mitigated at the source and that sanitation practices have been implemented to preclude contamination during the processing of the food product,” the Health Department said in a news release.

The agency said it will continue to work with the farm to retest areas and products to ensure food safety.

Oshiro said the farm has changed some of its practices, and he was told it no longer uses tilapia to fertilize its crops, instead using a U.S.-manufactured fertilizer.

Sun said in a “Think Tech Hawaii” interview on YouTube in 2014 that he uses fish scraps to feed the tilapia.

Only guppy-size fish used to control mosquitoes are in the ponds, he said.

All the produce is grown in brackish well water.

The fine limu, called Kahuku Ogo, grows in in-ground pond beds, former shrimp ponds filled with brackish well water.

The seaweed is cleaned in three to four rinse tanks, moving from one to another, then placed on a table for final inspection, Oshiro said.

The thicker ogo, Robusta, is grown in above-ground, lined troughs.

The sea asparagus is also grown in large ponds but, unlike the seaweed, is grown on floating racks with only its roots in the water.