Hong Kong health authorities have identified eight epidemiologically linked food poisoning clusters involving 15 people who ate vanilla-flavoured ice cream from three restaurants at the city’s Grand Hyatt hotel earlier this month.
The Centre for Health Protection said on Friday that the clusters included three earlier linked to the same hotel in Wan Chai, where all affected people fell sick after eating the ice cream at the three venues on June 1 and 2.
“They developed abdominal pain, fever, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea about 15 to 65 hours after consuming the food concerned,” it said.
The centre said the nine males and six females who fell ill were aged three to 42, with the group in stable conditions after seeking medical treatment. Four of them were hospitalised but were later discharged, it added.
“The stool specimens of six affected people were positive for Salmonella upon laboratory testing. Four of the Salmonella isolates belong to the same group of Salmonella enteritidis,” it said.
“In view of the epidemiological investigations and test results, the affected people’ symptoms were very likely related to consumption of the concerned ice cream provided by the hotel.”
The centre said environmental hygiene officers had inspected the relevant restaurants and the ice cream production kitchen, as well as reviewing the food preparation process and collecting samples for testing.
The concerned premises had also been suspended from the production and sale of the food while the locations were undergoing cleaning and disinfection, it said.
“Meanwhile, the Centre for Food Safety also provided advice on food safety and environmental hygiene to person-in-charge and staff of the restaurants,” the centre said.
Health authorities also visited the restaurants and the ice cream production kitchen again on June 12 to conduct further inspections and testing, before finding everything was normal.
“So far, no salmonella was found in the ice cream and vanilla oil samples, environmental samples and staff stool samples collected from the relevant premises,” the centre said.
The centre said the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) would review the results of the investigation and initiate prosecutions against the premises if there was sufficient evidence.
“The FEHD continued its inspection on a daily basis, and confirmed the premises have suspended the production and sale of the food concerned. Follow-up actions are ongoing,” it said.
The Post has contacted the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong for comment.
The centre advised the public to observe personal, culinary and environmental hygiene at all times to prevent food-borne diseases, such as refraining from eating raw seafood when dining out.
