Flame3601

Just got back from a trip to Johannesburg and i am nearly 100% sure i picked up some food poisoning from the Slow Lounge in Cape Town. I was up to JNB on BA6406 yesterday and stopped by the lounge for a quick bite as one does, i had couple cubes of cheese and a croissant. I immediately noticed it tasted a tad bit funny and some cubes varied in temperature ranging from room temp to warm-ish ( strange ???) but nothing too worrying to make me think twice about not consuming it. I started feeling not 100% as we started our approach into Johannesburg but then a couple hours later i felt terribly sick and i got even worse as time went on. I had serve abdominal cramps, mild fever and a splitting headache and not to mention Delhi belly style diarrhoea. It got so bad at about 8pm i contemplated going to hospital and if i was alone that night then it would of been going to hospital in an ambulance as it was getting that bad, luckily a family member was a medical professional and was on hand to assist and it started to mellow down after 9pm. I am certain it was the cheese that gave me food poisoning, okay fine can not obviously guarantee it was the cheese, but i am certain it was. I reckon it was due to poor handling and storage of the cheese cubes along with cross contamination of human fingers due to no serving utensil available. The cheese must of also been left out for long periods of time as well and then stored until the next day to be put back on display as with the vast quantity on display I doubt that much cheese gets eaten in a day or let alone a week. I had about 8 good sized cubes and they also varied in hardness from mildly soft to a a more firmer density which is not the norm thus showing varied lengths of being out in an oxygenated environment.

I am feeling a lot better today, but still nursing a headache and the odd stomach cramp that comes up, but nothing compared to last night. I ironically have felt a bit sick before on my last trip to the lounge, but only had one cube instead of 8 that time. I am quite interested to see if anyone else had experienced something like this from the Slow Lounge in CPT recently or previously or anywhere else within the Slow Lounge Network within SA. A lot of the buffet spread is actually the same in the morning and the rest of the day so it just sits and sits and sits until the next day if not eaten. I reported to BA this morning via email and i am so concerned that others will get equally sick and the implications of being as sick as i was and knowing that most will be connection onto other flights when in JNB and the disruption that could cause is what i believe to be warranted that I inform the City Of Cape Town Health Inspector to do a site inspection, which i have done this morning.


Moral of the story ... avoid the cheese !

corporate-wage-slave

That seems rather brief a time for food poisoning, it's usually the meal 16, 24 or even more hours prior. There are some interval periods which are shorter, notably Listeria, which can come from cheese. However that's usually 12 hours plus. The best thing to do in this situation is to ensure samples are taken and analysed, which tends to happen in the UK for hospital cases, since this is the best way to be systematic about food poisoning. The reports then circulate through Public Health England and the Food Standards Agency, and action gets taken right down to the source farmer if necessary.

https://www.fda.gov/food/resourcesfo.../ucm103263.htm

Hopefully you will recover quickly, always deeply unpleasant this sort of thing.

Flame3601

I did do a bit of research as i do not want to point the finger wrongly at Slow Lounge CPT, but it is widely regarded that the effects of food poisoning may start as early as 1 hour and following the timeline of my symptoms it pretty much is accurate. Without lab research on those cheese cubes, we will never know fully thou. South Africa is currently under a huge epidemic from Listeria and with the water crisis in full swing some establishment are pretty sparing with water these days meaning less cleaning going on to save water. I am merely interested to see if anyone else has experienced something similar recently and to somewhat warn others to be cautious. I shall update if BA's response is update worthy and same goes for the City of Cape Town.


I actually read the NOID's weekly summary every time, too bad we don't have a publicly accessible one in South Africa!

masmadrid

People saying it's highly unlikely: please state your medical training and research in to food-borne illnesses (and at least try not to mis-quote the data from the FDA website).

madfish

Ancient Observer

I do not know how quickly cheese can upset one's tummy. I know that Prawns can act within about an hour.

I was staying in what was (and might still be) the best hotel in the world - The Oriental in Bangkok. I ate in Lord Jim's, their seafood restaurant. I ate Thai King prawns. This was Friday evening.
About and hour after the prawns, I was in my bathroom in my room at the hotel, not knowing whether to be on the loo, or over the sink.
This wonderful experience lasted until Sunday afternoon.
What a waste of a weekend in the best hotel in the world.

anniegray

But how do you know it was the prawns?

anniegray

Does food poisoning cause fever and headache? Sounds like a virus

corporate-wage-slave

One of the insidious aspects of food poisoning is dehydration - most of us don't consume enough liquids, which is fine most of the time, but food poisoning is when problems can really start. So both can be by-products of food poisoning via dehydration, and so can chills too, to complicate matters. But yes, Noro and other viruses are also in the frame here too.

Flame3601

rakehey

CWS is spot on (as usual)

If a load of people from the same lounge all got ill you might be able to blame them...but isolated case is unlikely...an as CWS says, time frame make it unlikely

Given masmadrid wants us all to justify our comments now, I'm a Public Health Consultant...

Saltire74

I can more than sympathise with you. Last December when I was going to East Java to see ‘the boss’, about 30 minutes before landing into SUB, I started getting stomach cramps. By the time I got through customs, I had to go and let my world leave me. Two hours later at our accommodation, I had to go straight to the facilities.

Got into bed and was starting to get severe chills and pains all over my body. Continued visiting the facilities for the next 12 hours and never really got over it for the rest of the two weeks and continued on the journey home which was a 40+ hour marathon journey.

The day after arrival, I contacted CX and made them aware of my condition in case there were any further reports. I felt confident enough to pin point it to CX as I had travelled from AMS the day before and only ate or drank on both flights and the Bridge lounge in HKG over the preceding 24 hours.

It’s not pleasant travelling with those symptoms. Hope you recover soon

S

masmadrid

I'm surprised a public health consultant is so quick to mock someone asking for proof and to dampen uninformed opinion. I thought you would welcome invitations of professional opinion.

UKtravelbear

But what is your medical training? If you want to trade medical qualifications then at least list yours.

It's you that is doing the mocking. If you think someone has misquoted the FDA then please give an accurate description of what you think the FDA said.

masmadrid

I have no medical training. Who ever asserted that?!

Must you be a pilot to demand expert piloting on your flight?