Do these look cooked to you?

[SquishTheWhale]

We are just off the Oasis and I will start by saying the majority of the cruise was great.

 

However towards the end of the week, we were eating brunch in the Windjammer and my husband and 4yr old son were sharing some sausages. My husband took a bite and it didn't taste quite right, so he cut them open and they did not look cooked inside. He immediately took them away from our son and raised the issue with a member of staff- very politely, mostly warning them that they should remove this tray of sausages from the buffet.

A chef was fetched who honestly was quite rude to us, insisting that they were in fact cooked and the red and translucent centres are 'just the fat'. We disagreed but felt unable to do anything more as they wouldn't accept it. They told us the sausages are cooked in the oven then grilled- however they were so pale in colour I'm not sure I can believe that.

 

Later we did visit guest services and make an official record of the incident as we were worried my son may become sick after eating them, and wanted it on file that we had reported undercooked food. We did late receive some kind of follow up from senior staff, but not that they would admit they were undercooked, they just checked in with us.

The next day my husband began to feel unwell, and spent the whole last day at sea vomiting. Unable to keep water down, he visited the medical centre who said it was flu and not food poisoning. I'm not arguing with a medical professional but it seems a big coincidence to just write off the chance it could be related to food. He opted to have an IV drip and some medication as he needed to be well enough to fly home the next day, which cost us nearly $300 (I am hoping to get this back from our insurance). Unfortunately him being sick did ruin the end of the cruise for us and made travelling home with a young child extra challenging as I had to manage all the bags etc myself. 

 

I'm now in two minds about making a complaint, but wanted some opinions first as I'm totally open to us being wrong about the sausages. Would you say these sausages are undercooked, or are they totally fine? Is it just the colour of the fat as they say?

 

[Kiki and The Noush]

Yes, they look raw to me.  I think alerting staff immediately was the right thing to do.  I don't think every little thing warrants compensation.  

[Billy Baltic]

I’m no expert but I don’t know if one bite would be enough to cause a day of vomiting. Maybe with chicken but again I have no expertise in this. 

[SquishTheWhale]

33 minutes ago, Kiki and The Noush said:

Yes, they look raw to me.  I think alerting staff immediately was the right thing to do.  I don't think every little thing warrants compensation.  

I'm not actually after compensation- just really think they should be aware that the staff didn't take it seriously and continued to serve the sausages

[SquishTheWhale]

28 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

I’m no expert but I don’t know if one bite would be enough to cause a day of vomiting. Maybe with chicken but again I have no expertise in this. 

Hopefully you're right and it wasn't connected. Just seems a co-incidence, but of course its possible.

[Sunshine3601]

Did he get checked out once home?   The concern with undercooked pork is trichinosis

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Deffo raw tbh. Wether or not it made you sick from it not sure tbh. But its a coincidence t h 🤷

[wdwkings]

The timing of the symptoms seems very likely that this was related to the description that you gave.  Just looking on the phone, the pics are pretty small so can’t comment.  
 

Only one pork related disease was mentioned but with most food that is pre-packed, shipped, cooked especially processed meats that may have multiple touch points in manufacturing there could be lots of sources for the illness.

 

https://foodsafety.osu.edu/resources/causes-and-symptoms

 

While it is possible, it could have come from something else, doesn’t seem as likely given the circumstances.  Hopefully he is feeling better.  Notifying the staff was a good decision.

[puppycanducruise]

They don't look cooked enough to me so I think it was wise that you notified staff.  Their reaction was not correct.

I hope your hubby feels better soon.

[brillohead]

2 hours ago, SquishTheWhale said:

Unable to keep water down, he visited the medical centre who said it was flu and not food poisoning.

 

Influenza is a respiratory illness, not a gastrointestinal one.  

With that being said, he could have picked up any kind of virus (noro, etc.), at any point in the cruise.  

[wdwkings]

1 hour ago, Billy Baltic said:

I’m no expert but I don’t know if one bite would be enough to cause a day of vomiting. Maybe with chicken but again I have no expertise in this. 

As long as the bacteria, virus, parasite or whatever has a way into your body, it can cause illness.  One bite could be all that it needed to get inside.  There are other factors (viral/bacterial load, host susceptibility, etc) but the first step is gaining entry.  

[BND]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Did he get checked out once home?   The concern with undercooked pork is trichinosis

In the US pretty much contained to people who eat wild boar or bear. Virtually nonexistent in US farm raised pork.  

[smokeybandit]

Those do look undercooked.

 

Though pork-borne illness is extremely rare.

[SquishTheWhale]

52 minutes ago, brillohead said:

 

Influenza is a respiratory illness, not a gastrointestinal one.  

With that being said, he could have picked up any kind of virus (noro, etc.), at any point in the cruise.  

 

I know that- that's why I'm not 100% convinced the medical staff were saying it's flu as they wouldn't want to admit it being related to undercooked food served on board. They didn't do any tests or anything.

 

[SquishTheWhale]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Did he get checked out once home?   The concern with undercooked pork is trichinosis

He hasn't no- I didn't know about that but will look it up. He's been feeling much better since yesterday.

[time4u2go]

I know I've seen undercooked bacon on cruises that I felt like could make someone sick.  I would always just avoid getting it.

[brillohead]

3 minutes ago, SquishTheWhale said:

They didn't do any tests or anything.

 

What tests would you expect them to do?  

[soremekun]

3 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

I know I've seen undercooked bacon on cruises that I felt like could make someone sick.  I would always just avoid getting it.

 

[soremekun]

I bit into some chicken once (on Voyager?) and it was bloody inside.  I informed a WJ staff member wearing a suit and showed him and gave him the plate.  He alerted the chef.  They came by and apologized.  The guy in the suit came by a few minutes later to get my room number.  I wondered if I was going to receive a gift of OBC or something or if it was so that I wouldn't have to pay at the medical facility if I complained of stomach pain or illness.

Edited May 21 by soremekun

[Mum2Mercury]

3 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

I’m no expert but I don’t know if one bite would be enough to cause a day of vomiting. Maybe with chicken but again I have no expertise in this. 

I was going to say the same thing.  I believe a child could become sick from a single bite, but I think it'd take more than that for an adult -- your husband's not immuno-compromised, is he?  

 

I'm wondering about the power of suggestion or coincidence.  

1 hour ago, brillohead said:

Influenza is a respiratory illness, not a gastrointestinal one.  

Yeah, I'm not a medical person, but I was going to point that out.  

However, people sometimes say, "I had a stomach flu".  They aren't being technically accurate, but we all know what they mean.  

[Billy Baltic]

There’s also no guarantee there is any pork in a sausage onboard a RC ship. 

[RedSails1968]

I agree with everyone. I could not eat anything that looked like that!

[BND]

51 minutes ago, soremekun said:

I bit into some chicken once (on Voyager?) and it was bloody inside.  I informed a WJ staff member wearing a suit and showed him and gave him the plate.  He alerted the chef.  They came by and apologized.  The guy in the suit came by a few minutes later to get my room number.  I wondered if I was going to receive a gift of OBC or something or if it was so that I wouldn't have to pay at the medical facility if I complained of stomach pain or illness.

Undercooked chicken is much more dangerous than undercooked pork.  I've had chicken that looked undercooked in the MDR and returned it.  The headwaiter, chef and Maitre D all came by and apologized profusely. They were really concerned about it.  It was the friend chicken which I never order anymore.  Never had the issue with the chicken breast or other chicken dishes.  Just the bone in fried.  It happened a couple of times.  One time, it actually oozed pink when I  cut into it.

[SquishTheWhale]

1 hour ago, brillohead said:

 

What tests would you expect them to do?  

I didn't expect them to do any. I'm saying I don't know how they could be sure it's flu.

[SquishTheWhale]

1 hour ago, soremekun said:

I bit into some chicken once (on Voyager?) and it was bloody inside.  I informed a WJ staff member wearing a suit and showed him and gave him the plate.  He alerted the chef.  They came by and apologized.  The guy in the suit came by a few minutes later to get my room number.  I wondered if I was going to receive a gift of OBC or something or if it was so that I wouldn't have to pay at the medical facility if I complained of stomach pain or illness.

 

I agree with the above posts that I'd expect them to take raw chicken a lot more seriously! I'm glad they did. They also asked for our cabin number, but it didn't seem to go anywhere.

55 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I was going to say the same thing.  I believe a child could become sick from a single bite, but I think it'd take more than that for an adult -- your husband's not immuno-compromised, is he?  

 

I'm wondering about the power of suggestion or coincidence.  

Yeah, I'm not a medical person, but I was going to point that out.  

However, people sometimes say, "I had a stomach flu".  They aren't being technically accurate, but we all know what they mean.  

He's not- it could well be a coincidence. At the time of the event we were only really concerned for my son as he's only 4 and had a couple of bites before we realised. He seems fine luckily.