The Ministry of Health confirmed this week that 44 of the diners invited to the recording of the Masterchef television program on January 19, which took place at the Oceanogràfic de València, suffered food poisoning.
The case has been publicly denounced by a worker at this leisure space, one of those affected, through her social networks.
In a publication in which she includes a photo of her and her colleagues sitting at the table during the program, this employee affirms that they all had gastroenteritis: “The next night I had to go to the emergency room to be injected with Primperan to stop vomiting”.
“I lost 5 kilos in three days”, she added, and denounced that, since January, “they have not even had the decency to write to us to apologise”, although after publishing this story she has protected her account on Twitter.
Now, the Ministry of Health have specified that a total of 44 people were intoxicated during the recording of the episode, and that the symptoms they presented were those of gastroenteritis, that is, vomiting and diarrhoea.
They have assured that the Valencian Department of Health carried out a study of contacts a few days after the event, after receiving an initial notification that there had been suspected food poisoning.
As a result of this study, it was possible to know the number of people affected, 44, although not if they had to be treated in health centres or not, nor what food was the cause of the infection, since days had passed since the event and there was no food to analyse anymore.
They have also explained that this incident was notified to the Ministry of Health, the Department of Public Health, which was the one that coordinated all efforts with the program and made other inquiries.
The producer of the program, Shine Iberia, has lamented “the indisposition expressed by some of the diners who attended the recording of our exterior in Valencia, with whom they were in contact at all times through the Oceanogràfic”.
“This is an absolutely exceptional case in these 11 years of MasterChef in Spain, a program where it is an absolute priority to guarantee the food care of the people involved,” they have assured.
The producer explained that during the filming in Valencia the food was analysed at source with positive results and its traceability was guaranteed throughout the process.
In this sense, they have ensured that “the competent health authorities were informed and documented” when the facts became known.
On the other hand, from the Oceanogràfic they have assured that they hosted the event “like any other” and that the facilities were “a mere container”, without any relation to the food that was prepared.
