14 DAY TRIAL // More than 100 people who attended a national food safety summit earlier this month in Baltimore have fallen ill after consuming a meal served at the event, in a potential case of food poisoning, it has been reported.
Attendees at the Food Safety Summit, which was held at the Baltimore Convention Center between April 8-10, confirmed that they were plagued with an outbreak of gastroenteritis after the event, which left them with symptoms like nausea and diarrhea.
According to Daily Mail, about 1,500 people attended the conference, including top food safety officials. About 400 of them have already spoken to health officials and, so far, more than 100 confirmed they were sickened after participating at the summit. This means that many more people may have become ill after the event.
Ironically, members of the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were also affected by the foodborne disease.
“A couple of our folks indicated that they had experienced symptoms associated with food poisoning after the summit,” Juli Putnam, spokesperson for the FDA, said.
Health officials are yet to confirm the cause of the outbreak, as they are currently testing the food. Bacteria, viruses, or parasites may have contaminated the food, but this is yet to be determined. The investigation may take several weeks to be completed.
“We are working on evaluating possible exposures and doing testing at the Maryland state public health laboratory to attempt to identify an agent,” the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a letter sent to summit guests.
Maryland health officials have started their investigation by inspecting the convention center and its food service provider, Centerplate. The latter was reportedly issued a violation notice for condensation dripping from an ice machine in the kitchen.
Peggy Daidakis, who runs the convention center, told NBC News that she really wanted to find out what caused the illnesses, and said they were cooperating fully with investigators.
“We're not trying to hide anything. If there is something, we'll take the corrective measures,” she said. “None of us are very happy when we hear these things.”
This year’s conference guests included officials from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as staff from companies like McDonald’s, Chiquita, and Tyson.
According to their website, the Food Safety Summit is “the largest and most established food safety and defense exposition in North America on food safety, quality assurance and food security.”