Dubai restaurant closed down after 15 fall ill in salmonella outbreak

Raw eggs served up in hollandaise sauce suspected of causing sickness and diarrhoea

Raw eggs used in Hollandaise sauce, commonly used in breakfast dishes such as eggs Benedict, led to a salmonella outbreak at a Dubai restaurant. 
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A restaurant in Dubai has been shut down by food inspectors following an outbreak of salmonella caused by raw eggs served up in a hollandaise sauce.

Dubai Municipality closed the unnamed restaurant in Jumeirah until further notice while a thorough investigation is completed.

According to local sources, 15 people are understood to have been taken ill with suspected food poisoning after eating at the American restaurant, one of them a child.

After the first reported case on September 14, health inspectors discovered the chef responsible had been using raw eggs in the production of the sauce, commonly used in breakfast dishes like eggs Benedict.

The municipality’s Food Safety Department reduced the restaurant's standard and hygiene rating and said it would be closely monitored for six months after reopening.

Speaking earlier in September, senior food specialist at Dubai Municipality Bobby Krishna, said a number of poisoning cases were reported by tourists who ate food abroad and came back carrying infections.

“Several salmonella cases, reported via the Emirates Hospital, were diagnosed in individuals who had recently arrived back in the Emirates having travelled,” he said.

Salmonella bacteria is commonly passed into food as a result of poor hand-washing.

It lives in the intestines of humans, animals and birds and is passed on to foods infected with faeces.

Raw eggs are another common transmitter of infections. While an egg’s shell may act as a barrier to contamination, some infected chickens can produce eggs containing salmonella bacteria before the shell is formed.

Most people with salmonella infection have no symptoms.

Others develop diarrhoea, fever and abdominal cramps within eight to 72 hours.

Although most healthy people recover within a few days without specific treatment, those with existing medical conditions can be vulnerable to more serious symptoms.

So far in 2019, more than 800 cases of food poisoning have been reported in Dubai.

High summer temperatures paired with poor refrigeration in some restaurants and in homes has been blamed for many cases.

About one in four reported incidents were attributed to salmonella bacteria.

The municipality has closed some 180 restaurants this year due to poor hygiene records, with others given a D rating for food standard violations, meaning the standard of hygiene is poor and significant improvements are required.