‘Vomit falling down windows’: Hundreds of students in New Zealand fall ill after suspected food poisoning

There were reports of long queues at toilets, students rushing away in the middle of exams to be sick, and vomit flecks on windows

New Zealand’s University of Canterbury is investigating a suspected case of food poisoning after more than 200 students in two residence halls fell severely sick on Monday.

There were reports of long queues at toilets, students rushing away in the middle of exams to be sick, and vomit flecks on windows left by those unable to make it to the bathrooms in time.

Paul O’Flaherty, executive director of people, culture and campus life, confirmed that students at the University Hall and Ilam Student Accommodation had fallen sick.

“This is of course concerning to us, and we are working closely with the National Public Health Service to investigate the cause of the illness, which includes a visit by Public Health staff to University Hall to test a small sample of students,” he said, according to Stuff.

One student said “over 200 students were up at all hours of the night either vomiting or experiencing extreme diarrhoea”.

“There were queues at one building’s toilets at 4am due to the large amount of students experiencing this,” the student, who asked to stay anonymous, told local news outlet Stuff.

The outbreak is suspected to have been caused by a chicken souvlaki that was served at a student dining hall on Sunday night.

Officials from the New Zealand Food Safety (NZSF) began investigating the outbreak on Tuesday, and were operating on a “working assumption” that the shredded chicken in the souvlaki caused the illness, reported public broadcaster RNZ.

New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said: “Our working assumption is that the cause was shredded chicken served as part of a meal. The amount of time between the food being eaten and symptoms appearing (about 11 hours) is consistent with unsafe handling practices around cooling, reheating and hot holding of the meat.”

“As part of this we are working to establish the cause of the outbreak, including possible food and non-food sources.”

He added that the chicken was not undercooked, but “not quickly and effectively chilled” leading to bacteria growing. When reheated for the dinner, it was not hot enough to kill the bacteria.

The kitchen that provided the meal is run by University of Canterbury Students’ Association (UCSA), whose president Luc Mackay said the cause of the illness “has not been determined” yet and that they were working with the university and the health service to find the cause and provide support to unwell students.

“We are disappointed to hear about the working assumption shared by New Zealand Food Safety. At this point in time, the investigation is still ongoing,” he said.

Multiple students were left distressed on Monday, as the university is in the middle of their end-of-year exams.

“Students missed exams due to this and many are struggling to get medical exemptions. One student spent over an hour of his exam stuck in the toilet,” student Harry Browne told The Press, adding that he woke up at 5.45am on Monday due to “terrible diarrhoea and vomiting”.

Students shared footage with The Press that showed vomit falling down the windows of the hall, likely from students unable to reach the bathrooms in time.

According to Stuff, students tried on Monday morning to seek special consideration for those who had to miss their exams or performed badly due to the illness.

Student Liam Reynolds told RNZ that he had been sick for 12 hours, and was not eating at the dining halls, and another student said she had purchased two small bags of chips for lunch on Tuesday because she did not trust the food at the dining halls anymore.

Later, the university said that students unable to write their exams due to the outbreak would be able to apply for special consideration and could be allowed to retake their exams.

“We have contacted all students in affected halls of residence directly outlining what to do if they think their exam performance was impacted and/or if they could not attend. UC’s special considerations team will provide individual support and answer any queries. We want to do all we can to support our students’ health, wellbeing, and academic success,” Mr O’Flaherty said, according to ABC.

“Yesterday’s affected students have reported to be feeling much better today, there were no new cases.

“We’ve recommended students keep their fluids up, make sure they wash their hands thoroughly and check the Health New Zealand website for further advice. We have encouraged students to contact UniLodge (student accommodation facility) for any additional support they need including a free electrolyte mix to address dehydration, bottled water and packaged meals,” he said.