The Secretary of Health of Bogotá, after carrying out routine actions of inspection, surveillance and control of certain food products on the market, obtained ppositive for the presence of the bacterium ‘Listeria monocytogenes’, in Brakel-brand chicken sausages, which are sold in the D1 chain store.
Additionally, the Ministry of Health identified on the Invima consultation page that the product has expired marketing health document. Given this situation, the district entity proceeded to seize and destroy the detected stocks of the product of this brand and specific batch, to prevent its sale to the public, and intensified all the necessary actions to identify the places where it may be being sold.
As confirmed by Semana Magazine, the District Secretary issued an urgent report to the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (Invima), since it is the responsibility of said institution carry out the respective verification in the production plant of this brand of sausages to avoid any affectation to the health of citizens.
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The bacterium found, Listeria monocytogenes, grows intracellularly and is the cause of listeriosis. It is one of the most violent foodborne pathogens, with a mortality rate between 20 to 30%, higher than almost all other foodborne toxic infections.
The Ministry of Health recommended that the community not consume this product while the required microbiological analyzes continue to be carried out and interventions are carried out by the health authorities. The Mayor’s Office of Bogotá, in its first hypothesis, believes that this finding may be related to the massive intoxication that occurred in Bogotá, during the last week.
It should be remembered that on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 9, it was known a complaint about a possible poisoning at the Gerardo Paredes school, located in the town of Suba in Bogotá. Although the rector of the institution assured that what happened in the institution was not an intoxication but a case of collective panic, the Ministry of Health confirmed that it was an intoxication but, for now, it is unknown because of what substance it was produced. this fact.
However, the Ministry of Health confirmed through a statement that, around noon that Wednesday, nine minors, seven girls and two boys, They were admitted to the emergency services of the Suba Hospital presenting a clinical picture of “possible exogenous intoxication by an unknown agent.”
After the medical assessment, the Secretariat indicated that the nine students underwent toxicological tests to determine what substance affected them. Although the samples are still being processed, the entity reported that they are also analyzing the foods that the minors consumed, in order to rule out that the health status of the young people is due to them.
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