The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) received a report from the Health Bureau (SSM) on Tuesday about five customers who after eating takeaway food from a hotpot restaurant came down with gastroenteritis. The five diners felt discomfort, according to an IAM statement yesterday.
The Sichuan-style hotpot restaurant is located in Rua da Praia do Manduco near Mercado de S. Lourenço.
The five customers separately ordered spicy seafood cold cuts as takeaways from the eatery last Saturday and Sunday, and gradually started to suffer symptoms such as fever, vomiting and diarrhoea from Sunday, the statement underlined.
The Health Bureau has conducted an epidemiological investigation, based on the patients’ eating records, incubation period and symptoms, and IAM officials believe the case was possibly caused by a bacterial pathogen, the statement said.
The bureau sent out officials to inspect the restaurant immediately after receiving the report. The officials found the food was stored incorrectly at the wrong temperature and they believed the restaurant had hazardous food safety conditions.
According to the statement, the bureau has ordered the restaurant to stop selling seafood cold cuts and to conduct deep cleaning and disinfection of areas for food preparation, storage, facilities and appliances.
The statement did not say whether the eatery has been closed pending the outcome of the inspections.
At the same time, the restaurant’s employees must take food and hygiene courses, in order to strengthen their awareness of food and personal hygiene, the statement noted.
The bureau will continue to follow up on the case and the personnel involved will be fined if laws and regulations are found to have been breached, the statement said.
