It is not yet clear what led to the death of a 46-year-old woman who ate tortellini at an Italian restaurant in the Schwandorf district and died three days later. One thing is certain: when the tortellini reached the restaurant, they were still good. The restaurant owner bought them from a wholesaler and had stored other sealed packages, which were examined by the authorities. The result: the samples were negative. So was it another ingredient? Or the tortellini, which may have been stored incorrectly?
What is known so far is that two friends went to an Italian restaurant together on Saturday, September 7th. According to the friend, both ordered tortellini, and both suffered from nausea and vomiting afterwards. They were later treated in hospital, with food poisoning suspected. While one friend was able to leave the hospital after a few days, the other died on September 10th.
And they are not the only guests who complained about complaints. As district spokesman Manuel Lischka told the Middle Bavarian Newspaper said that four other people were affected in addition to the deceased. All of them complained of complaints after eating the same dish. The public prosecutor’s office has since been investigating on suspicion of negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm.
So what happened? The trail to the wholesaler has not been confirmed. It therefore seems logical that the dishes were suspected to have been contaminated in the restaurant kitchen. The bacteria Bacillus cereus, which was already suspected to be the cause, was actually found in a cooked sample from that day. The district office announced this in response to an inquiry from SZ. Restaurants must store these samples.
The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment writes that the bacteria can easily be transferred to food through spore-containing dust. A small number of germs should not pose a danger to humans, but poor storage conditions could lead to the spores germinating. This could lead to gastrointestinal diseases. According to the institute, they also survive when heated. The results of the autopsy and further tests are now awaited.