“At present, 55 people are in serious condition, including 30 in intensive care” out of a total of 121 poisoned individuals “presenting symptoms of poisoning and suspected botulism,” said Anastassia Rakova, the deputy of the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin. “The lives of these patients are not threatened,” she said, quoted by Russian news agencies.
Food poisoning at its highest level in France
At home, in restaurants or in communities… While there were barely more than 1,000 outbreaks of foodborne illness in 2010, in 2022, more than 1,900 outbreaks have been recorded. This represents more than 16,000 people poisoned, 643 presented themselves to hospital and 17 died.
Epidemiological investigation in progress
Foodborne botulism is “a serious and potentially fatal, but rare disease”, which “blocks nerve functions and can lead to respiratory and muscular paralysis”, explains the World Health Organization (WHO) on its website. This poisoning is caused by the ingestion of botulinum toxins, present in contaminated food.
Anastassia Rakova indicated that “the city of Moscow and the regional Ministry of Health have identified the main products likely to be the cause of food poisoning”. “An epidemiological investigation is underway and the distribution of poor quality products has been suspended,” she added. The home-cooked meal delivery company, which sells the salads in question, indicated in a press release that it had “already withdrawn the dish from sale and started to check the entire supply and production chain” .
