Durban — A team from the eThekwini Municipality’s Environmental Health Practitioners unit are investigating allegations of food poisoning at a food outlet based at Midway Crossing, in Ntuzuma, north of Durban.
The Daily News has established that about 70 people had been treated at the KwaMashu Poly Clinic for alleged food poisoning. Sources revealed that people complained of vomiting and diarrhoea after eating at the popular Shawarma Max shop.
KwaZulu-Natal Health spokesperson Ntokozo Maphisa said the departmental records show that one of its health facilities in KwaMashu received close to 100 people with mild symptoms of abdominal pains, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration.
A source said, “They are all pointing fingers at the shawarma they bought in Midway Crossing. What’s more painful is that there are young patients as well.”
When the Daily News visited the shopping centre it discovered that it was business as usual for Shawarma Max. Manager, Thando Shangase, shifted the blame to the eThekwini Water and Sanitation unit which she said could be the reason why people are ill.
“Ever since the shop began operating we have never encountered such issues and no one has ever come back to us complaining about food poisoning. We therefore distance ourselves from the outbreak. The health inspectors did visit the shop and we are now waiting for the results,” said the manager.
Business owner Rashid Rasol also blamed the water and sanitation unit for the diarrhoea outbreak.
“We have sold more than 500 shawarma’s after these accusations, but only a few people are complaining. We are aware that some community members have been facing water outages and had to rely on water supplied by the municipality. So, that could also be the cause,” he said.
One of Poly Clinic patients Nokulunga Luthuli said she felt sick last week on Friday afternoon after eating a shawarma with her sister, two neighbours and her two-year-old child.
“We felt ill after consuming the shawarma, but only realised we had contracted food poisoning when we went to the clinic. I haven’t been to work for days because I have been extremely weak. What depresses me is that my child is also sick. He is weak and has lost so much weight because of diarrhoea,” claimed Luthuli.
eThekwini spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said, “The health department is aware of the alleged food poisoning incident. A team of environmental health practitioners has been dispatched as a matter of urgency and an investigation is continuing. The department is taking this incident very seriously and any contraventions to the law will be dealt with severely.”
Maphisa said the facility is managing the patients who have been walking in since Saturday.
“Patients were discharged on the same day, while others were booked in overnight. Environmental health practitioners have been contacted. All patients were referred to them for further investigation. The facility is currently awaiting results from three specimens which were collected from patients," said Maphisa.
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