Food poisoning suspected as five people die in a French retirement home

Five residents of a retirement home in southern France have died and more than a dozen others are in serious condition as a result of a suspected case of intoxication. mbadive food.

Officials said Monday that 22 people from the residence Cheneraie, a private facility located in Lherm, south of Toulouse, began to show symptoms, including vomiting after Sunday's dinner.

Four officials were initially announced by officials. A source close to the investigation later told AFP that a fifth person had died.

The victims were four women and one man, aged between 72 and 95 years old.

Toulouse prosecutor Dominique Alzeari said 19 of the 82 residents remained under surveillance. Sixteen of them are described as being in very bad shape although their life is not in danger.

Alzeari has announced "lengthy investigations" into cases involving "manslaughter and unintentional injuries".

The meals in question were kept for badysis, said the regional health agency, and residents were asked what they ate.

Liver goose to blame?

"We suspect food poisoning because these events occurred after the meal," Deputy Attorney Marie-Paule Demiguel told BFM Television, adding that the kitchen will also be used for cooking. ;investigation.

"I always have the menu in my purse and I know that they ate a Perigord salad last night." What could it mean? foie gras? "Mary, a woman who was visiting her father at home, told the local Depeche du Midi newspaper. "They will do an autopsy anyway."

The daughter of two other residents, who called Chantal, told reporters outside the home that "apparently" the problem was with meals prepared specifically for palliative care patients ".

The deaths occur as the government prepares a bill on retirement financing for the aging baby boomer population, which is expected to add 9 billion euros to the national health budget by 2030.

The management company Korian, which runs the house that opened in 2006 under license from the French government, said in a statement that she "was producing on-site meals with her own cooking teams".

Korian says it operates the largest network of retirement homes in Europe, with 803 sites in five countries, representing 78,000 beds. France has 7,750 retirement homes with 50 to 120 beds.