Salmonella Food Poisoning in Russia
According to Itar-Tass (Moscow), a total of 444 construction workers has been infected with food poisoning and remains in hospitals within the Moscow region.
A total of 444 workers employed at Sheremetyevo (3 terminal in Moscow), the IKEA - Khimki Business Park construction sites had been hospitalized since June 20 with symptoms of food poisoning, a representative of the Ministry for Emergency Situations said.
The workers - citizens of Russia, the CIS and Turkey, lived at the Iskorka and Morozovka recreation compounds in the village of Myshetskoye of the Solnechnogorsk district. Poor quality food was is a presumed cause of food poisoning, a source of the infection is being established, the same source said.
Managers of the ENKA Company have been questioned within the framework of an investigation into mass food poisoning of construction workers employed at Terminal 3 at Sheremetyevo airport.
Almost all of the workers arrived in Russia from Turkey, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan to work on construction sites in Moscow. They lived on the premises of Ozero Krugloye recreation center in the Solnechnogorsk district.
According to preliminary data, all the victims have been infected with the salmonella bacteria and the source of the food for the workers were brought from Moscow.
The ENKA company might be stripped of the right to employ foreign workforce, the regional branch of the Federal Migration Service told Tass. “Since the company failed to fulfill its guarantees to the workers, which entailed grave consequences - mass food poisoning, and failed to ensure proper living conditions for the workers we are raising the issue of recalling the company’s license for the use of foreign workforce,†the Federal Migration Service said.
An operational headquarters for prevention of emergency situations in the Moscow region that is working round the clock has been following the situation. Healthcare Minister of the Moscow region Vladimir Semyonov said the workers’ condition was assessed as “medium seriousness”. Luckily, none of the sick people is in serious condition now, Semyonov said.
Deputy chairman of the government of the Moscow region Sergei Koshman said that the workers lived under conditions that did not meet the norm. Having obtained the license to accommodate 500 people, the employers invited 800 instead, Koshman said.
