720 people suspected of food poisoning at Gimje Horizon Festival… 91 people hospitalized

(Gimje = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Moon-kyung = Reports were received that more than 700 people who visited the Gimje Horizon Festival (October 1-5), one of Jeonbuk's representative festivals, were showing symptoms of suspected food poisoning, and the city is conducting an epidemiological investigation and discussing measures to prevent recurrence.

According to Gimje City and others on the 12th, as of 10 a.m. that day, the number of visitors who reported symptoms of suspected food poisoning after visiting the Horizon Festival reached 720.

On the 5th, the last day of the festival, about 5 people reported symptoms of suspected food poisoning for the first time, and related reports continued even today, a week after the festival closed.

Currently, 91 symptomatic patients are hospitalized and receiving treatment, and 54 people have been discharged after completing hospitalization treatment.

Among patients admitted to the hospital due to suspicious symptoms, salmonella was detected in 32 patients and norovirus was detected in 1 patient.

Additionally, other viruses, including sapovirus, were found to be detected in nine patients.

It was confirmed that most of the symptomatic patients had consumed gimbap sold at a booth within the event venue.

However, a small number of symptomatic patients were confirmed to have eaten other foods, such as raw meat, and this is also being investigated.

To determine the cause, Gimje City collected samples from 13 workers who participated in cooking and serving food and requested testing, and also collected knives and cutting boards used at the site and requested a detailed examination from the Jeonbuk Health and Environment Research Institute.

In addition, under the direction of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, a reproduction test will be conducted to analyze food made using the same tools used in the store at the time.

As reports of suspected food poisoning continued, Gimje City and the Horizon Festival Committee issued an apology on the 9th, saying, "As the organizing organization, we fully realize our heavy responsibility and bow our heads in apology. We are extremely sorry for causing unexpected pain and great inconvenience to those who came to the festival site to make happy memories with family and friends."

A city official said, "We plan to create compensation guidelines for visitors through a meeting with loss adjusters today," and added, "We are listening to opinions from related departments and agencies and discussing measures to prevent recurrence."

The test results are expected to come out on the 19th.