BAHAWALNAGAR: Up to 50 people, including women and children, were treated at the Haroonabad Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital late on Thursday and Friday after eating tainted fast food from a food point on Baldia Road, Haroonabad.

Sources said more than 150 people who ate shawarma were affected and were brought to private hospitals and THQ Haroonabad.

Dr Amir Raza, medical superintendent, told Dawn that till Friday, around 50 people had been treated at the hospital. On Thursday night, 25 people, including 15 children, were brought to the hospital, while 18 more food poisoning victims were admitted to the hospital on Friday morning, he added.

One of the medical officers who treated the patients said that patients had suffered gastroenteritis, vomiting, dysentery, and difficulty breathing. He said the condition of all the affected people was better, and they were being discharged after treatment.

The doctor said that shawarma had affected those people the most who ate it on an empty stomach or overate. He said when there are more customers, vendors cut the meat faster and serve it without proper cooking, he added.

No Punjab Food Authority official was available for comment.

“The food-poisoning outbreak is believed to have been caused by the meat,” Haroonabad Assistant Commissioner Amir Mehmood said.

A large number of people had been affected due to the poisonous shawarma, while poor cleaning arrangements were found during the inspection of the shop after the incident, he said, adding that the shop had been sealed and the shop owner arrested, while an application had been sent to the police to register a case against the three staffers and the owner of the shop. A PFA team was called for the sampling of the food items in the shop, he added.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2023