Customer ‘Throwing Up Blood’ Shut Down Tina Knowles’ Gumbo Booth

Earlier this month, Tina Knowles opened Mama Tina’s Gumbo stand at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.

Knowles shared details about the booth on Instagram, and said it was scheduled to serve food from March 2 to March 22.

But health inspectors temporarily shuttered the stand after a customer got sick. Now we know what the Houston Health Department found when it stepped in to investigate.

Local station KPRC 2 News obtained a copy of the health report and ran a story on Monday, March 23.

The station said the health department received a complaint that a customer suffered chills, nausea, and fever after eating the gumbo, and was “throwing up blood.”

Beyoncé and Solange’s mother, who has a background as a hairstylist and fashion designer, touted the gumbo on social media as a longstanding family recipe.

Gumbo is a popular Louisiana seafood and sausage stew thickened with okra or a roux made by carefully simmering fat and flour.

The woman who filed the complaint on March 16, said she became violently ill  within hours of eating the gumbo. Health officials inspected Mama Tina’s stand and found “multiple violations,” including improperly stored seafood.

Inspectors said the gumbo was prepared at an off-site location and cooled, placed into non-food grade orange buckets, and taken to a freezer at an unlicensed location. The frozen gumbo was then transported to a refrigerated trailer at the rodeo where it was thawed before being served.

The health violations included:
-No temperature logs showing the cooling or storing time

-Food stored inside non-food grade containers that may contaminate food

-Food stored inside an unpermitted facility, then transported for service from the unapproved source

-Food source used after the first day of the rodeo was not listed on the approved permit application

-No date marking for food prepared more than 24 hours prior

-Frozen food not kept frozen

Inspectors worked with Knowles and her staff, and educated them on proper food handling techniques. The stand was cleared to reopen after one day, on March 17.

“Operators were very cooperative and asked questions about how to gain compliance with the department. Operators stated that they will cease food preparation at an off-site facility and only prepared foods on-site, pending department’s approval of the new permit application,” the report stated.

It’s unclear if more than one person reported getting sick after visiting the stand.

Representatives for Mama Tina’s Gumbo did not respond to the news station’s request for comment.