At least half the guests at a wedding that took place in Benalmádena this past weekend ended up in the A&E with what the ... regional government is investigating as a food poisoning.
The wedding was at the four-star Estival Torrequebrada hotel on Saturday. The celebration began at 2pm and, about one hour later, the meals were served. There were appetisers, ranging from ham to salmorejo, and main courses: prawn risotto, meat with hollandaise sauce and, for dessert, mille-feuille.
"We don't know what could have caused it," one of the guests told SUR.
There were around 80 guests at the wedding, "perhaps a few more", and 40 of them have fallen ill. The patients exhibited the typical symptoms: diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, muscle fatigue and, in some cases, a fever. As is often the case in such situations, not everyone was affected in the same way, but none of them required hospitalisation.
The wedding meal "was one of those typical ones that drag on until 6pm". Some began to feel unwell during the night, while others didn't feel ill until Sunday morning. A large number of people headed to various health centres. In some cases, if both people in the household were ill, they had to call an ambulance.
The regional ministry of health has already launched an investigation into what it currently regards as a "suspected outbreak of food poisoning". Food poisoning occurs when a pathogenic microorganism present in food not only multiplies and invades the body but also produces a toxin within it.
This is where the difference lies compared with food poisoning when it arises from ingesting food that already contains toxins or toxic substances, which may originate from living organisms (bacteria, viruses, moulds, parasites, etc.), substances naturally present in food (such as histamine) or other "non-living" substances (additives, pesticides, environmental contaminants, heavy metals, etc.).
Inspection work
The health protection unit "is carrying out the relevant inspection procedures", which include taking samples. Legally, establishments are obliged to retain "sample meals" when serving set menus "on request for groups or events of more than 40 people". This inspection work will be crucial in determining the cause of this incident.
The most common cause of food poisoning is the storage of food at inappropriate temperatures, such as inadequate refrigeration, partly due to preparing food in advance, or insufficient cooking and reheating temperatures. The best-known example of food poisoning is undoubtedly that caused by Salmonella: a bacterium that lives in the intestines of animals and humans and causes a stomach infection (salmonellosis).
Sur has contacted the Estival Torrequebrada hotel on several occasions to seek its account of what happened, but the hotel has not yet responded.