Catering

  • Workers' 'squalid' catering unit in UAE closed after hundreds fall sick

    Posted: March 28th, 2011 - 7:33pm by Doug Powell

    The United Arab Emirates has made food safety a priority, and food service companies have apparently imported some Western-style BS explanations when people barf.

    A spokesthingy for a labor camp operated by Abu Dhabi-based Al Jaber Group, told The National.

    "The safety of our staff is our utmost priority. … In more than two decades of operation, and serving 150,000 meals a day all over the UAE, this is the first instance of food poisoning at any of our camps."

    Not much consolation to the 236 workers who were diagnosed with food poisoning; the catering unit was found to be operating without a licence and under "squalid conditions."

    Investigators from the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) have closed down the catering unit at the Habshan Labour Camp after 117 workers were taken to Madinat Zayed Hospital on Saturday and Sunday, and a further 119 were treated on site at the camp.

    Inspectors found cockroaches inside the water dispensers and destroyed 675kg of cooked rice which was kept in "unsafe conditions for more than four hours", according to a statement released by ADFCA.

    The inspection report stated the camp, which caters for 2,200 workers, was "violating all norms of hygiene and disregarding the health consequences for the labourers."

    Cross-contamination - mixing meat, poultry and vegetables, both raw and uncooked, in the same freezer - was apparent, and food products did not have manufacturing details on them, so may have been expired, the report said.

    Mohammed al Reyaysa, the director of communications at ADFCA, described the conditions as "shocking" and said "the people behind this disaster will not go unpunished."

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    Abu Dhabi, catering, food safety, poison, Uae
  • Two weddings and an outbreak: Clostridium perfringens in London, July 2009

    Posted: June 24th, 2010 - 3:28pm by Doug Powell

    I didn’t even come up with that headline. Those science journal writers are developing a sense of humor.

    Eriksen et al. write in Eurosurveillance today:

    Food poisoning outbreaks caused by Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin occur occasionally in Europe but have become less common in recent years. This paper presents the microbiological and epidemiological results of a large C. perfringens outbreak occurring simultaneously at two weddings that used the same caterer.

    The outbreak involved several London locations and required coordination across multiple agencies. A case-control study (n=134) was carried out to analyze possible associations between the food consumed and becoming ill. Food, environmental and stool samples were tested for common causative agents, including enterotoxigenic C. perfringens. The clinical presentation and the epidemiological findings were compatible with C. perfringens food poisoning and C. perfringens enterotoxin was detected in stool samples from two cases.

    The case-control study found statistically significant associations between becoming ill and eating either a specific chicken or lamb dish prepared by the same food handler of the implicated catering company. A rapid outbreak investigation with preliminary real-time results and the successful collaboration between the agencies and the caterer led to timely identification and rectification of the failures in the food handling practices.

    In the discussion, the authors write,

    A blast chiller is normally used for cooling large quantities of food quickly by this particular caterer; however it was not being used appropriately at the time of the incident. Temperature control of foods during preparation, cooling, transportation and reheating was poor. Furthermore, the vans used for food transport had no refrigeration and these events took place in July. The evidence of insufficient hygiene, cooling and reheating at the catering company during transport and at both venues (according to environmental health department inspections) are in keeping with a toxin-related gastroenteritis outbreak, including C. perfringens.
     

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    Other Microorganisms  |  1 Comment
    catering, Clostridium perfringens, Food, four weddings and a funeral, hugh grant, London, Wedding