Prevention of food poisoning in hospital patients.

A number of food poisoning outbreaks in hospitals have been recorded in South Africa:-' In order to prevent such outbreaks in the Tygerberg Hospital a comprehensive investigation into all possible sources of food poisoning has been carried out. The investigation covered the bacteriological testing of all raw food supplied to the hospital, the same food after normal cooking, and after subsequent freezing and 'reconstitution' by reheating. In addition, tests were carried out on abattoir, food factory and kitchen personnel. Bacteriological testing was confined to identifying the pathogenic bacteria present in each sample. Only th0se organisms recognised as being the cause of food poisoning are referred to.