15 people treated for food poisoning

Around 35 employees of three kindergartens in the municipality of Oeiras, district of Lisbon, presented symptoms of food poisoning on Friday, with at least 15 receiving hospital assistance, according to police and local authority sources.

A source from the PSP National Directorate told Lusa that on Friday they registered cases of food poisoning in adults in three kindergartens in the municipality of Oeiras, employees of these spaces.

The Oeiras City Council announced on Friday night, in a statement, that 15 adults, teachers and non-teaching staff, from three IPSS (Private Social Solidarity Institution) in Barcarena and Queijas were treated at the São Francisco Xavier, Amadora and Cascais hospitals, following food poisoning.

“There is no record of children being affected, as the meals provided to adults and children come from different places. The Oeiras health authority is monitoring the situation and carrying out the necessary analyses to determine what is causing this poisoning,” it reads.

According to the PSP, in one of the spaces, the O Pingolé Kindergarten in Porto Salvo, Oeiras, 10 cases were recorded among employees.

The Greater Lisbon Sub-regional Civil Protection Command told Lusa that nine people, all adults, were considered to have suffered minor injuries due to food poisoning at that kindergarten.

The alert for this occurrence was given at 4:24 pm on Friday and five were transported to the Fernando Fonseca Hospital, in Amadora, and four to the São Francisco Xavier Hospital, in Lisbon, detailed the Civil Protection source.

The PSP also reported that it had also recorded cases of food poisoning in 12 employees at the O Traquinas kindergarten in Queijas, Oeiras. In a third kindergarten, O Tão Balalão, in Porto Salvo, Oeiras, the PSP recorded 13 employees with food poisoning.

The same source noted that not all employees with these symptoms were treated or transported to hospital units, and that no further information was available at the moment.

The local authority led by Isaltino Morais also pointed out, in the statement, that it “immediately provided assistance and has been supporting users and their families”.