Food poisoning at hotel wedding downs 60 guests

The Department of Public Health is now investigating a food poisoning incident that downed more than 60 wedding guests at Saipan Grand Hotel Saturday evening.

Two weddings were held at the hotel Saturday evening — the Taisacan-Nena and Ayuyu-Kapileo nuptials. Aside from hotel food, the Taisacan and Nena families brought their own food, including crabs, sashimi and tapioca, which the wedding guests partook during the celebration.

However, hospital officials could not say which wedding the food poisoning victims attended at Saipan Grand Hotel.

The Commonwealth Health Center started to receive food poisoning patients at around 12:00 a.m. yesterday, including Elizabeth Taisacan who just got married hours ago. But by 7:00 a.m., the victims packed the hospital’s emergency room, most of them vomiting, complaining of stomach pains, and suffering from loose bowel movement.

CHC could not say if the death of Guillermo M. Benavente, godfather in the Taisacan-Nena wedding who suffered a stroke, was related to the food poisoning incident.

“You cannot really say that the victims just came from the guests of Taisacan-Nena wedding because we heard that some guests from the other wedding (Ayuyu-Kapileo) were also brought to the hospital,” said a CHC staff, who declined to be identified.

Five waiters of Saipan Grand Hotel were also down and brought to the hospital. They left the hospital the same day.

Immediately after several people were rushed to CHC, the hospital mobilized the Food Outbreak Response Team (FORT) at around 4:00 a.m. to respond to the food poisoning incident.

Public Health Assistant Secretary David Rosario and John Tagabuel, head of the inspection and enforcement, met with the hotel management to find out what really happened during the wedding reception. Health inspectors were sent to the residence of the Taisacan and Nena families to find out more about the food that were brought to the hotel.

“We have been here since 4:00 a.m. and we are all handling the situation well. We will analyze the food, stool and vomit samples to really find out as soon as possible what caused the poisoning,” Mr. Rosario said.

As of yesterday, some of the hotel staff have been interviewed by the Department of Public Health. Samples of the food prepared by Saipan Grand Hotel such as fish and roasted pig as well as those brought home by the victims were also taken for laboratory analysis.

Hotel management refused to issue any statement on the food poisoning incident since the case is still being investigated.