Cinnamon Grand cooperating fully with food poisoning investigation

Cinnamon Grand, referring to the incident pertaining to guests who had felt unwell on 12 June 2015, has said it could have been caused by the butter used in food preparation, in a statement issued yesterday.

 As reported, the hotel has extended its full cooperation with all investigations carried out by the regulatory authorities to ascertain the cause of the complaints.

Immediately following the incident, the Cinnamon Grand sent samples of 67 items of food and drink for expert analysis by an independent and internationally accredited laboratory. A report received today revealed that the butter served at the function may have been the cause for concern. Immediate steps are being taken to further investigate this matter, including testing at the level of the supplier and manufacturer.

“This matter is of grave concern to us and is receiving our highest priority. Every attempt is being made to ascertain how this occurred and to ensure that an incident of this nature is avoided in the future,” the statement said.

“We have always adhered to the highest standards of food hygiene and environment including the ISO 14001, ISO 22000 and OHSAS 18001 and food hygiene receives our top priority as we serve over 5,500 meals a day at the Cinnamon Grand. This unfortunate incident has resulted in us reassessing all our processes and procedures once again to ensure that our standards remain the highest possible. There has been an immediate implementation of additional measures well above the required ISO standards in processes relating to purchasing, storing and food preparation so as to safeguard against a recurrence of this incident,” it added.

In response to certain questions raised in the media regarding the quality of the air in the Oak Room, the Cinnamon Grand has also obtained external expert reports on the air quality systems in the function rooms which have been certified as compliant with applicable standards and ruled out as the cause of any concern.

The Cinnamon Grand deeply regrets the inconvenience suffered by organisers of this event and the guests who were taken ill at the 12 June function.