Over 1,000 People Affected by 'Mass Food Poisoning' in Namwon City... 'Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' Activated

Namwon City in Jeonbuk announced on the 9th that it has activated the Namwon City Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters since the 4th following the occurrence of suspected food poisoning cases.

Starting with 153 initial symptomatic patients, the numbers were 745 on July 4, 996 on July 5, and a cumulative 1,032 on July 6. Since then, no new symptomatic patients have been reported, and the cumulative number of recovered patients is 971, showing a significant decrease in symptomatic cases.

Graph of the trend in symptomatic cases of group food poisoning in Namwon City.
[Photo by Namwon City]

After a comprehensive review, the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters decided to resume school meals. Accordingly, the Namwon Office of Education has disposed of existing food ingredients, conducted thorough environmental disinfection, and carried out on-site inspections. School meals are scheduled to resume at individual schools starting today.

However, while resuming meals, it was decided that heated meals will be provided as a principle for the time being (until this Friday).

Additionally, related departments have temporarily suspended the manufacturing, distribution, and sales of the company where norovirus was partially detected, and urged strict management and response, including voluntary recalls, for the producers.

To block community transmission and closely analyze the causative pathogen, the city is visiting the company with related organizations such as the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province, and the Jeonbuk Infectious Disease Control Support Group to reenact the product manufacturing process and conduct epidemiological investigations of workers. A self-reporting survey via URL is also being conducted.

The Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters plans to continue epidemiological investigations for clear identification of the cause.

Related departments plan to make every effort to prevent infectious disease outbreaks by establishing differentiated prevention and management response plans for each food company, unlike before, to prevent the spread of similar waterborne and foodborne infectious diseases, as the incidence of food poisoning tends to increase with rising summer temperatures.

Namwon = Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Jeong Young-gwon baekok@asiae.co.kr