HOUSTON – Houston health inspectors investigating a customer illness complaint after eating Mama Tina’s Gumbo at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo found thawed seafood labeled “keep frozen” and learned the gumbo had been moved to a freezer at an unlicensed off-site location without temperature logs before being served, according to Houston Health Department records obtained by KPRC 2 News.
The complaint, received March 16, described a customer who said she ate gumbo in the afternoon and later developed symptoms including vomiting, chills, nausea and fever, the records show. The customer also reported she was “throwing up blood,” according to the complaint.
What inspectors found
Health department investigators responded to the pop-up shop, featuring Beyonce’s mothers’ cherished family recipe, on Monday, March 16.
Inspectors learned the gumbo had been prepared at an off-site location where it was cooled, placed into non-food grade orange buckets and taken to a freezer at an unlicensed location, records show. The frozen gumbo then got taken to a refrigerated trailer at the rodeo where it was kept to thaw before being served…