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Officials confirmed that 46 people were taken to the hospital for food poisoning in Maryland after an employee brought and shared a homemade meal at work.
According to NAFCO Wholesale Seafood Distributors, where the incident took place, the workers reportedly became ill roughly an hour after eating a noodle dish (per NBC News affiliate WBAL of Baltimore.). The parent company of NAFCO, Stanley Pearlman Enterprises, told the outlet that the food that caused the illness did not come from the facility: “NAFCO operates under the highest health and safety standards in the industry. Our headquarters and facilities are regularly inspected and monitored by the relevant health authorities to ensure compliance with all health and safety regulations.
The Howard County Fire & Rescue said in a press release that it responded Monday at 3:45 p.m. to the 7700 block of Chesapeake Bay Court in Jessup, about 15 miles southwest of Baltimore, on a report of multiple patients with food poisoning after allegedly eating the same food. The 46 adults were evaluated and taken to different area hospitals with noncritical health conditions, and stated: “preliminary indications are that the illness was related to outside food prepared by an employee and shared with others at the facility. At this time, we are not aware of any further illness connected to this incident and believe there is little risk to the larger community.”
The Howard County Health Department said it was working with the Maryland Department of Health to investigate the exact cause of the incident. All 46 who were hospitalized have been released. The Maryland Health Department later posted on X it was “not currently aware of any risk of further illnesses connected to this incident.”
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