A food poisoning outbreak at UC had students vomiting from windows. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
University of Canterbury students no longer want to eat the catering provided at University Hall and Ilam Student Accommodation after more than 100 students fell ill in a suspected food poisoning outbreak.
The University of Canterbury Students' Association has confirmed it runs UniLodge's Maidstone Road kitchen that provides catering at both halls of residence through its OnCampus division.
Students became unwell on Sunday night after eating what they described as a "bad chicken souvlaki", resulting in queues for the toilets and some people vomiting from windows because they could not make it in time.
The association's president Luc Mackay said it was working closely with the National Public Health Service and the Ministry for Primary Industries to establish what happened and to ensure it did not happen again.
"We became aware that Monday morning that several students at University Hall and Ilam Student Accommodation had become unwell overnight. This is of course concerning and the additional stress of this being the exam period for students," he said.
"As exams are underway, we want to ensure all students are aware of the support available to help them through this time."
Mackay said students could apply for special consideration if their health affected their ability to sit their exams, or contact the UC health centre for medical assistance.
Student Liam Reynolds said he was sick for about 12 hours and did not want to eat at the halls.
"A lot of people aren't going, we all went to McDonald's last night, and we aren't eating lunch there, we are all just going to campus to use our meal vouchers," he said.
He said he was lucky he did not have an exam on Monday morning, but the gastro outbreak put others in a stressful situation.
"There was a popular business exam the next day that is required for most business students, so that was quite awful," he said.
Another student told RNZ she bought two small bags of chips for lunch on Tuesday because she no longer trusted the food.
An unwell student sat an exam after just two hours' sleep because at that stage she did not know what was happening.
Support offered to students
University of Canterbury (UC) spokesperson Paul O'Flaherty said affected students could apply for special consideration.
"We have contacted all students in affected halls of residence directly outlining what to do if they think their exam performance was impacted and/or if they could not attend. UC's special considerations team will provide individual support and answer any queries. We want to do all we can to support our students' health, wellbeing, and academic success," he said.
"Yesterday's affected students have reported to be feeling much better today, there were no new cases.
"We've recommended students keep their fluids up, make sure they wash their hands thoroughly and check the Health New Zealand website for further advice. We have encouraged students to contact UniLodge for any additional support they need including a free electrolyte mix to address dehydration, bottled water and packaged meals.
"We continue to work with the National Public Health Service to find out the cause of the illness. Pending confirmation, the University of Canterbury will take appropriate action."
Christchurch City Council regulatory services head Tracey Weston said the council was the lead agency because it registered the caterer.
"Several reports of suspected food poisoning have been received and the council is currently investigating. We are being assisted by our partner agencies, Ministry for Primary Industries and Community and Public Health," she said.
New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said the agency was working with the National Public Health Service to investigate the outbreak.
Investigations continuing
New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said: ''Foodborne illness symptoms are very unpleasant and we feel for the students affected, particularly those who have had their studies disrupted.
"We acted promptly to reduce exposure to the risk and prevent it from happening again. Our food safety officers were on site yesterday and were back again today.
"As always with these kinds of investigations it's important to carefully follow the evidence so we can be sure the risk is being properly managed and minimise the chances of it happening again."
The kitchen's processes were being reviewed, Arbuckle said, and staff were being interviewed.
"Our working assumption is that the cause was shredded chicken served as part of a meal. The amount of time between the food being eaten and symptoms appearing (about 11 hours) is consistent with unsafe handling practices around cooling, reheating and hot holding of the meat. We are working to confirm this.
"If the issue was uncooked meat we'd expect to see a different incubation period, typically around two to five days.
"As part of this we are working to establish the cause of the outbreak, including possible food and non-food sources," he said.
The chicken was well cooked, as the bacteria was not consistent with campylobacteriosis, usually found in undercooked chicken, he told Checkpoint.
"We think what happened was it was not quickly and effectively chilled," he said.
"Over that period of time, bacteria started to take over and grow, and then when it was reheated, it was probably not heated hot enough to kill that bacteria. So, the bacteria were pretty heavily present in the food as it was served. "
The chicken went into the chiller, but in a bulk condition, he said.
"You can imagine a large container of hot or cooked chicken takes a fairly long time before the centre of that, like a bin or something, starts to really cool down. It's likely that took a long time and during that period of time you get bacteria growth," he said.
Samples from students taken by the National Public Health Service will confirm the type of bacteria involved.
"We're entirely confident that the process that led to this failure is not being repeated, so students and their parents can be assured that the catering is safe."
Arbuckle said he would be happy to have a meal at University Hall after the incident, he said.
"They've not had a record of problems in the past. So, something went wrong with their procedures," he said.
"We'll get to the absolute bottom, why they allowed this to happen but we're more than satisfied that they've taken steps in response to this and there's no chance of that happening in the current or foreseeable period."
Chicken will be continued to be served at the halls, however, will be cooked to order when it is needed for meals.
"Not the procedure where they cooked it, chilled it, and then reheated, it'll be cooked, particularly for the meal itself, which we're confident will not cause the problem that occurred this week."
In May first-year UC students complained they were so famished they were resorting to buying takeaways after meals, despite paying annual residence hall fees of about $20,000.
