Salmonella outbreak at Prague school canteen: 363 people infected

In Prague's Újezd nad Lesy district (Prague 21), a salmonella outbreak has now infected 363 people — schoolchildren, kindergarten children, and elderly people who receive meals through the social care delivery service. All of them ate the same lunch on Monday, September 21, prepared in the canteen of Masaryk School; 50 of those who fell ill were hospitalized.

Number of cases keeps rising

At first it seemed that only pupils at Masaryk School had been poisoned, after eating spaghetti with raw, stale eggs — a carbonara-style dish. But the next day another 13 children from two kindergartens, "Čentická" and "Sluníčko," were added to the list, along with eight elderly people who have meals delivered by the social care service.

"According to our information, everyone who fell ill ate the lunch prepared on September 21 in the canteen of Masaryk School, from where the food was also delivered to other locations. A total of 363 cases have been registered. Salmonella has already been confirmed by lab tests in 22 people, while results for the remaining samples are still pending," said Petra Batoček, spokesperson for the Prague Hygiene Station.

Both kindergartens, as well as the school itself, were closed yesterday. The district has temporarily arranged alternative meals for the elderly people who were normally fed by this same kitchen. The Prague 21 municipal district, which administers Újezd nad Lesy, has also asked the Czech School Inspectorate to thoroughly inspect the school.

Police open a criminal investigation

Police are already involved in the case. "Investigators from Prague III's second police department have launched proceedings on suspicion of a crime — negligently causing harm to health through substandard food products," said police spokesperson Richard Hrdina, adding that the offense carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.

Prague hospitals overwhelmed

Yesterday, around 44 children and six adults were being treated in Prague hospitals. At Bulovka Hospital, the infectious diseases ward is completely full. Královské Vinohrady Hospital admitted five more children on Thursday and is also operating at full capacity. At Thomayer Hospital, nine children are in stable condition, and there is still room for new patients. "Fortunately, we're managing to treat most of the children on an outpatient basis," said its spokesperson Petr Sulek.

The father of one hospitalized schoolboy described the scene at Bulovka: "The children's ward there looks like the school in Újezd — there are an incredible number of children. I think there are only three children there with a different problem, not salmonella." One mother, whose son is also being treated at Bulovka, added: "It's a real nightmare, everyone is constantly running to the bathroom. There are no free beds for parents, so we sleep on chairs at night."

The principal wavers, the cook had warned in advance

School principal Libor Skála had said just the day before that he had no intention of resigning. But yesterday his position changed: "I admit that over the past twenty-four hours my view on this has changed," he said, adding that he doesn't want to run away from the problem. "It would probably be more comfortable for me to step down and go on sick leave, but I think it would be honest to see the situation through to normal. After that, we'll see," the principal explained.

The question of who exactly is to blame for the outbreak remains open. Skála defended Jana Korytářová, whose name has become linked to the scandal — undeservedly, in his view. "From September 16 to 30, Ms. Korytářová signed a contract to carry out work related to the handover of the school canteen's operations. She is not responsible for food preparation methods. She was not handed over the storage inventory, nor has she been appointed to manage the canteen's operations. Matěj Novotný remains the canteen's manager," the principal wrote on Facebook. He also noted that responsibility for the cooking process lay with the head cook, since Novotný was not at work that day.

Cook Monika Wolfová said she had been forced to cook using old broth, and that the stale eggs used for the spaghetti had been sitting in the kitchen since August. She had warned school management about the strange practices in the kitchen. "I appreciate that Ms. Wolfová came to me with her concerns. The current situation understandably raises the question of whether we responded adequately to those signals at the time. That assessment will be part of our next steps and must be based on verified facts," said school principal Libor Skála.

Around Prague, based on reporting by ahaonline.cz