It was the butter!

Or was it? Speculation still rife as to what caused the guests to collapse at Queen Elizabeth's birthday celebrations:

by Carol Aloysius

Speculations as to what caused 12 guests at the Queen's birthday shindig on June 12 to be hospitalized continue, even though the management of Cinnamon Grand, where the event was held, acknowledged that butter was the likely culprit.

Early this week, the hotel issued a press release stating, "Immediately after the incident, the Cinnamon Grand sent 67 items of food and drink for expert analysis by an independent and internationally accredited laboratory. A report received today (June 22) revealed that the butter served at the function may have been the cause for concern."

The hotel management declined to give further information, except to say that "steps are being taken to further investigate the matter, including testing at the level of the supplier and manufacturer".

Picture courtsey:itersnews.com

A spokesperson for the hotel, when asked for more details about the supplier/manufacturer, said instead, "The matter is of grave concern to us and is receiving our highest priority. Every attempt is being made to ascertain how this occurred and to ensure that an incident of this nature is avoided in the future."

Butter sample OK

The incident however has and some positive outcomes. As articulated in the statement, the 'unfortunate' incident has resulted in the hotel re-assessing all their processes and procedures once again to ensure standards remain the highest possible. "There has been an immediate implementation of additional measures well above the required ISO standards in processes relating to purchasing, storing and food preparation to safeguard against a recurrence of the incident," it further stated. Speculation had been rife that the guests had collapsed due to some kind of toxicity caused by a malfunctioning air conditioning system. However, the hotel authorities dismissed the speculation saying that reports from external experts on the air quality system in the function rooms had certified the system as being 'compliant with applicable standards'.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the City Microbiological Laboratory (CML), which comes under the purview of Dr Ruwan Wijeyamuni, Chief Medical Officer of the Colombo Municipal Council's Public Health Division, said the butter samples they had received "met all the parameters and were okay."

The spokesperson further claimed the CML had received a total of 13 samples of food and beverages from the hotel, but that all the samples had not arrived at the same time. "Some reached our lab on the day of the incident itself. Others arrived a few days later. Since we don't know how they were stored or their expiry date and other important details, we cannot make a comment," she explained.

When pressed for details about the test results, the spokesperson said ten samples were satisfactory, and three - a vegetable salad, a crab salad and a grilled vegetable dish cooked oriental style - had questionable results.

Coliform and E-coli

Senior Deputy Director Industrial Technology Institute (ITI), Bandulusoma, refused to divulge any information on the test conducted by his institution, claiming, "The ITI receives hundreds of samples of food for testing in our labs each day. Our normal procedure is to restrict the information and results of such tests to ourselves and the clients."

However, a spokesman for the Medical Research Institute (MRI) confirmed the contaminated butter reasoning, claiming, "the butter was contaminated with Coliform and E-coli organisms," but explained that the organisms don't usually have toxic effects on those who ingest them.

"They cause diarrhoea and vomiting, only after they have entered the gastro intestinal system," he said.

He explained that the severe reactions presented by the guests immediately after eating their food could only have been caused by a toxin. "Exo-toxins are substances that cause severe immediate reactions. But we haven't found any organisms like that," he added.

Dr. Waruna Gunathillake, Head of the Poisons Information Unit, National Hospital, refusing to comment until there was scientific evidence to prove that the butter served was the actual cause, however, agreed "any food item can cause acute reactions to anyone who is food sensitive. If the reaction is very serious, we call it an anaphylactic reaction."

He said the only manner in which butter could be contaminated with E-coli was through water, an ingredient that goes to butter making. "If the water used is polluted or contaminated, it can contain E-coli. Even the use of preservatives and poor storage can cause this," he explained.

Commenting on the incident, which saw 12 of the nearly 200 guests celebrating the Queen's birthday, collapsing shortly after celebrations began, Dr. Gunethilleke noted that as the apex body on poisons information, the Unit should have been informed no sooner it happened. "But no one told us. We got the information only from the media," he pointed out. Dr. Hemantha Herath, Director, Food and Drugs Authority, endorsed the view. "Most of the time, when there is a case of food poisoning, we are called to the scene too late or not at all. If we had been informed by the hotel, we would have visited the site to evaluate the patients."

The officials also said no interim report had been sent as yet, though promised by the hotel. "We have asked for a report. But they have not sent us one as yet, compelling us to depend on the media for updates," Dr Herath said.