Food poisoning sends dozens to hospital in Norway

swedish-foodSevere food poisoning put a sad end to the 60th anniversary party of the Norges Diabetesforbund, Norway’s main diabetes foundation. Of the 230 people who attended the event at the Clarion Hotel near Oslo’s airport, 33 of them had to be rushed to hospital and another 100 also fell ill.

An investigation has been opened by Norwegian authorities after so many people got sick from eating at the party. The newspaper Aftenposten reported that by the end of the evening nearly half of the attendees had fallen ill. The accompanying diarrhoea, vomiting and nausea are particularly dangerous for people with diabetes.

Bjornar Allgot, who works with the diabetes foundation, told Aftenposten, “we were supposed to celebrate our 60th jubilee, but throughout the evening, people were falling like flies.” Thirty-three people were so ill that they had to be taken to hospitals across eastern Norway. By the following morning dozens more had become sick, including band members who had performed at the party.

Norwegian food safety regulators were quickly on the scene talking to hundreds of guests and staff who were at the Clarion Hotel at the time of the food poisoning. Officials from the hotel apologised for the episode, providing the state food agency with samples of food that had been served at the hotel on that day which will hopefully identify the cause of the outbreak.