Grand Hyatt Hong Kong linked to 15 food poisoning cases involving tainted ice cream

Health authorities have identified eight linked food poisoning clusters involving 15 people who ate vanilla ice cream at three restaurants at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Hong Kong 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 the affected people fell ill 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 men and six women who fell ill were aged three to 42, with all in stable conditions after seeking medical treatment. Four of them were sent to hospital 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.