More than 40 people are suspected to have been affected by food poisoning as part of a TV cooking show in Spain.
Health officials in Valencia confirmed to local media that 44 diners invited to a recording of the MasterChef program on Jan. 19 suffered food poisoning. The episode was aired earlier this week. Symptoms included vomiting and diarrhea.
MasterChef is a popular reality television cooking show broadcast in several countries where contestants make a range of dishes, which are judged by experts.
Reports first surfaced on Twitter with a woman reporting she was one of many people who had gotten sick after tasting food served outside an aquarium in Valencia for staff as part of the program. A range of items, including seafood, were prepared for about 120 people.
Analysis, traceability information, and documentation of the process and treatment of food used and cooked were shown to health authorities.
However, officials were unable to find the source of the infection because of the time that had passed since the event meaning there was no food left to test.
The producer of the program in Spain, Shine Iberia, apologized to the affected diners.
“This is an absolutely exceptional case in these 11 years of MasterChef in Spain, a program where it is an absolute priority to guarantee the nutritional care of the people involved.”
(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)
