Canterbury Uni mass food poisoning: Students' Association falsified temperature records

An investigation into a food poisoning outbreak at a University of Canterbury hall found temperature records were falsified by the Students' Association who prepared the meals.

The association has admitted responsibility for the outbreak and is due to be sentenced in December.

More than 160 cases of food poisoning symptoms were reported following a chicken souvlaki dinner at Canterbury University's Uni Lodge Hall during exams in November 2024.

The University of Canterbury Students' Association (UCSA) is responsible for the food for 500 halls of residence students, as well as a site in Edmonton, where 6000 meals are prepared for schools each week.

Food safety inspectors found the Students' Association did not follow its food control plan and record the temperature of the chicken at the time - with handwritten temperatures found to have been recorded after the fact.

They also found the association was not ensuring food was being kept hot and cooled in accordance with its food plan.

Court records show UCSA chefs at Uni Lodge Hall batch-cooked around 50 kilograms of chicken on October 31, 2024.

It was split into two tubs, with some served that evening for a chicken and vegetable stir fry and the other half blast chilled and put into a fridge.

Three days later, the pre-cooked chicken was prepared for dinner as chicken souvlaki and placed on a rolling boil for three and a half hours. It was then put into containers for meal service and put out buffet style for the students.

That night, 164 students who dined at Uni Lodge Hall became ill with gasteroenteritis symptoms including diarrhoea, stomach pain, low grade fever and vomiting.

Samples provided by some students for lab testing were positive for the Clostridium perfringens bacteria.

The illness usually follows the consumption of food that has been kept at unsafe temperatures for too long.

A Health NZ survey of the affected students found 95 percent had consumed chicken souvlaki for dinner before falling ill.

Epidemiological, laboratory and environmental investigations found the cause of the outbreak was the souvlaki chicken meal served on November 3, 2024.

At some point between when it was first cooked, blast cooled and then the rolling boil reheat, it had become contaminated and was unsafe for human consumption.

The USCA was issued a food control plan by Christchurch City Council that sets out minimum requirements to ensure compliance with food safety rules.

That includes recording temperatures when food is first cooked and when being cooled for refrigeration to ensure safe temperatures have been reached.

The investigation into the outbreak found USCA staff were not ensuring the correct hot holding and cooling of foods, or fully conforming with staff training records.

During the period when the chicken was prepared, the records were either missing or not completed.

In response to a visit by food safety inspectors, handwritten temperature records from 1 to 3 November were supplied by a UCSA staff member, but they were found not to have been taken over the weekend, but written after the fact.

There was also no evidence of internal audits being conducted by UCSA in the previous 12 months as required by its food control plan.