On 9 January, the Hong Kong Centre of Health Protection (CHP) announced a food poisoning cluster of passenger groups on Cathay Pacific flight CX640 from Nepal to Hong Kong. This is the second cluster discovered in two days with the same airline flying from the same region. The cause of the food poisoning cluster is still under investigation.
Consecutive Food Poisoning Clusters on Cathay Pacific Flights
The food poisoning cluster announced on 9 January follows another announcement a day ago. Cathay Pacific operates both flights.
The first cluster involves 16 individuals from an inbound flight from Kathmandu to Hong Kong. The second cluster on flight CX640 involves 20 individuals from distinct family groups.
All involved passengers reported symptoms like vomiting, nausea and fever shortly after their arrival.
Cause of Incident Still Under Investigation
The CHP has announced suspicion of the food poisoning cases caused by in-flight meals, to which Cathay Pacific replied in denial. A follow-up investigation proved that food items were stored at an “appropriate temperature and manner,” according to the CHP news release.
However, attention was brought to a beetroot salad, offered on both flights, as it requires heavy manual preparation and does not require to be reheated before serving. The menu item was suspended as a precaution.
The CHP has collected samples from Cathay Pacific’s in-flight food offerings for further investigation.
Cathay Pacific emphasizes their caution in preparing in-flight food with safety and hygiene at the highest standards.
The airline is famous for its tailored in-flight food offerings with a recent announcement of a new collaboration.
“We will continue to work closely with the relevant authorities throughout the investigation and provide necessary support to the affected passengers,” said the Spokesperson from Cathay Pacific.
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