SIXTEEN persons were hospitalized for food poisoning after partaking of food served in banquets for two weddings Sunday night at the Star Plaza Hotel in Dagupan.

Seven persons who participated in a wedding reception attended by 228 at the first floor of the hotel were brought to the Nazareth General Hospital.

Nine others who ate at another banquet attended by 120 people at the hotel’s upper floor were also rushed to the Pangasinan Medical Center.

City Health Officer Leonard Carbonell said all those hospitalized were victims of typical food poisoning as they showed symptoms of nausea, vomiting, abdominal pains and diarrhea six to eight hours after food ingestion.

He said he immediately sent a team to see the victims confined in the two hospitals and also at the hotel were they inspected its kitchen and also cooks and waiters but found no trace of contamination.

Carbonell ordered that the kitchen of the establishment be re-sanitized for one day and to limit access to it to really ensure safety of the food emanating from there.

At the same time, they checked on the temperature of the food shop and recommended tat it be increased a little bit so contamination, if any, can be minimized.

Carbonell said they have subjected the menu for laboratory analysis as they hinted that it was the beef and the food called cold cuts, which the hotel has ordered yet from Manila, seemed to be the source of food poisoning.

“We are waiting for the report of the hospital on what bacteria they had pinpointed as the source of the contamination,” Carbonell said. (PNA)