The number of people who fell sick after eating salmonella-tainted shawerma (chicken sandwiches) at a fast food restaurant in a Palestinian camp in Jordan has rose to 177 by Sunday evening, local media reported on Monday.
Minister of Public Sector Reform Mohammad Thneibat, who is also acting health minister, was quoted as saying that the government opened an investigation after over 170 people were stricken from eating shawerma on Saturday.
The owner of the restaurant in the Baqaa camp, north of Amman, was taken into custody as part of the investigation, Thneibat said, noting that the fast food outlet had passed inspections on four separate occasions last month.
Thneibat said the government was considering a "temporary closure" of all restaurants serving chicken shawerma pending the drafting and enforcement of stricter rules to ensure public safety.
Residents said hundreds of people bought shawerma from Al Salem restaurant in the camp on Friday afternoon. A 23-year-old man, Bilal Hassan, died Sunday after eating a sandwich he bought at the outlet.
The incident in Baqaa was the third in less than a year when the same food poisoned hundreds of people in Ruseifa and Madaba, stirring public anger at ineffective inspection of food outlets.
Source: Xinhua
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