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Subscribe to RSSGermany's biggest outbreak of food poisoning, in which more than 11,000 schoolchildren have been laid low by diarrhea and vomiting, is "very likely" to have been caused by a batch of frozen strawberries, authorities said on Friday.
Children in almost 500 schools and daycare centres across eastern Germany that received food from a subcontractor of the catering firm Sodexo have been affected, and at least 32 have been treated in hospital.
The Robert Koch Institute, which advises the German Health Ministry on infectious diseases, said it had found a "strong and statistically significant link" between the outbreak and "consumption of products made from a batch of frozen strawberries".
Many of the patients were found to be infected with noroviruses, it said in a joint statement with a task force set up by the government and affected states.
Sodexo announced that it planned to compensate victims and said further details would be announced in the next few days.
In a statement, it apologised to the children and their families for "an extremely regrettable one-off incident" and said it would select its suppliers "even more rigorously" in future.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
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Soooo You get paid in Germany if you puke from Cafeteria food? Actually the bigger concern is lack of information to what caused it. Chemicals, biological, fruit???
The virus can easily contaminate food because it is very tiny and infective. It only takes a very small amount of virus particles (fewer than 100) to make someone sick.
Food can get contaminated with norovirus when:
Someone took a crap, didnt wash thier hands, and handled the srawberries. YUM
Frozen Mexican strawberries sold in Germany, because US would not purchase fruit fertilized with human fertilizer. and Germanydid not think to ask. the US knew better we already went through the $hitdemic.
Could you possibly be a little more disgusting?? I love my strawberries. you have to wash all fruits and veggies before preparing them! Duh! Poor kids got awful sick and here you are with you oppinion making jokes! What a rotten fruit you are!!!..
YUP!! FREE Strawberries for anyone that got sick last week........NO need to rush, we got PLENTY....
I can only say no matter how small or unimportant this event may appear, we need to stay aware, and vigilant against such outbreaks. It is small events like this that creates pandemics if it runs unchecked timely.
Most likely the fruit was grown in some near by third world country where the fields could have been irrigated using sewer water which is a common practice in third world countries.
This same problem has already occurred here in the states on more than a few occasions from frozen strawberry's that were imported from Mexico.
School kids were the ones who got the worst of it.
But at least they were organic! //sarcasim
Hey Crownpoint are you in Louisiana??? Anyway, I was stationed in Korea and they too fertilize fields with human waste! Yuck wonder where mine went? Tried not to use the toilet in the Village! But sometimes you just gotta go man! I guess it went to the rice fields. Could be why Koreans are so short. LOL Human pooh stunts your growth! LOL
Ugh! Good thing we kicked Sodexo out of Western Washington University last year!! Those mother's sons.
Usually people would be on here proclaiming how unsafe U.S. food is and claiming there is never food poisoning in Europe............I can't hear you.
Ive had the pleasure of traveling and the US is exceptionally clean compared to Europe, you don't need a cholera shot to visit the US you need one to visit elsewhere, especially Europe.
I remember one time I was traveling the French Riviera/Mediterranean and I stopped at a hotel in Niece, well I rented a room and there was a boday right in the room but the toilet was at the end of the hall, if that tells you something of European priorities then you will understand how they can get sick on strawberries. I never did find the shower.
You do not need a cholera shot to visit Europe.
Not just in Francs, but other aprts of Europe, and you actually went to a lower tier hotel, as hostels and 3 start hotels usually have to "share" bathrooms with floor.
smoothies anyone?? mmmm
Great, someone @!$%# in the strawberries. Sounds like what the illegals do over here with our lettuce.
No, you wipe with the lettuce. I think that is pretty obvious.
I thought it was caused by Octoberfest.
Why doesn't MSN include the most important thing in this article. The "Where"... Where were the phucking Strawberries grown...
A bunch of California kids were infected with ecoli from strawberries that were watered with sewage water. Gotta love the Mexicans... Several died...
Worst... We still buy food from them... just look in any produce section at your local supermarket...
My family (and half the other guests) got norovirus after eating dinner at a wedding reception. The bride's family spent $50 per plate for the meal. The caterers refused to admit that it was their food that sickened 100 people (and lead to hospitalizations and ER visits for several.)
Anyone know how many countries Sodexo operates in? The run the food service for a university here which also caters to three or four schools, the veteran's home, one of the the hospitals and who knows how many more just in this area!
This is the danger of food coming in from other countries. Especially the 3rd world ones where the pickers may not be the wealthiest or cleanest. You cant expect good sanitation when the water system is questionable, if they even have plumbing..
Its a good idea to cook everything for 5 mins, if its something that can be heated. Strawberries is one of them.
We also have Sodexo at universities and community colleges here in AZ, I've heard nothing but BAD comments about the co. and its food.
Sodexo promises to compensate victims in Europe. Companies here? Oh, they just tell us to throw the cantaloupe, spinach or whatever it is out. Medical bills as a result of a contaminated product here? So sue 'em and prove it.
Damn what's up with this food ? peanut, strawberies, melons, I wonder if our ancestors who worked on farms ever had these problems and how did they solve them ?
Yes, they had these problems. They didn't solve most of them. That's one of the reasons their life expectancy was so much shorter than ours today.
Wash your nasty hands after wiping your nasty a%% and all will be well.
an easier way to find out about this just ask "Ralph"
WOW kids in germany gets strawberries in the lunch. american kids dont. we got alot to learn from them.
You mean liberals run German schools, too?
I find it interesting that the company apologized and told them they'd compensate the people who got sick. In the US there would be no apology, no admission of fault, and to get money the people would have to sue the company and win. And even if they did win, the lawyers all get a huge cut so there isn't much left.
Germany doen't have as many Bloodsucking Lawyers as does the USA. Over there, if you do wrong > you pay for it! Out the AZZ! Been in their courts as a Military policewoman. Can't quite figure this one out though. Germany was the cleanest country I ever visited overseas. Had to be the imported strawberries, but they grow their own too.
do they label and date their garbage like they do at the vatican?
"Ahh, but the strawberries that's... that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... geometric logic... that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist !!!...
...
Great reference -
cholera shot to visit Europe? Ummmm, no. And please fellow Americans, don't act like all the food is clean over there, because it's not and this happens a lot more frequently there than here in Germany. Typical American ignorance. If you had more than two weeks vacation a year, you might get out further than the US, Canada or Mexico and clean up your judgement.