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Sammy Heung

Clifford Lo

Health authorities have ordered a restaurant in Hong Kong to suspend business and undergo cleaning after mainland Chinese tourists who dined there were suspected of having suffered food poisoning
Police said they received a report at 12.33pm on Tuesday that 11 people had fallen ill in To Kwa Wan and were later sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
A government spokesman said 12 ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
Photos posted online showed a middle-aged man throwing up in the street and another tourist sitting on a bus while holding a plastic bag.
The Centre for Health Protection said the incident involved eight men and three women aged 55 to 68 from two tour groups comprising 61 tourists from the mainland. They developed abdominal pain, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and a fever after having lunch and dinner at two restaurants on Monday.
Staff members from the centre and the Centre for Food Safety inspected the restaurant where they had dinner and took away samples for laboratory testing.
Authorities also ordered the restaurant to suspend operations and carry out cleaning to improve the food preparation process.
The Centre for Health Protection said cross-contamination and failure to thoroughly reheat food made too early in advance could be among the causes of food poisoning.
It added that food safety officers would also inspect the restaurant where the tourists had lunch.
The Tourism Commission expressed concerns over the suspected food poisoning case and said it had instructed the Travel Industry Authority (TIA) to understand the situation and provide assistance to the tourists.
It added the TIA would take action to protect travellers if any violations were found.

The TIA said those who fell ill were from two tour groups managed by the same travel agent.
Its spokesman said that after arriving in Hong Kong on Monday, the groups had lunch at a restaurant in To Kwa Wan and dinner at another eatery in the same area on the same day.
“During the trip, other than having meals at the restaurants arranged by the travel agent, the tour members also ate food brought by themselves,” he said. “The food concerned was sent to the Centre for Health Protection for examination.”
The restaurant involved has indicated it did not serve lobster, which some media had reported was suspected to be the source of the food poisoning, he added.
It said there were a total of 69 mainland tourist groups, involving 2,100 people, who visited the two restaurants on Monday, and no other travellers reported similar symptoms.
“[The authority] had reminded the relevant travel agents and restaurant operators receiving mainland Chinese tour groups to be more vigilant in ensuring food and environmental hygiene, and to caution visitors to observe personal, food and environmental hygiene for their safety,” it said.
The restaurant where the affected tourists had dinner was also involved in two other food poisoning cases in July.
The Centre for Health Protection on July 25 said a stool sample of one of the affected patrons had tested positive for Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a bacteria that can cause gastroenteritis.
The authority, quoting the centre, said on July 26 the first case involved eight mainland tourists who had lunch at the restaurant and developed abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea about 14 hours later.
Another case involved five tourists who suffered from the same symptoms nine hours after having lunch at the restaurant on the same day.


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News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Health authorities order restaurant in To Kwa Wan to suspend business and undergo cleaning


Health authorities order restaurant in To Kwa Wan to suspend business and undergo cleaning.


Queen Elizabeth Hospital