Canterbury University is conducting an investigation after suspected hundreds fell ill following a case of suspected food poisoning.
Paul O’Flaherty, executive director of people, culture and campus life, said some students at University Hall and Ilam Student Accommodation had become unwell overnight.
“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.”
One student said after dinner on Sunday “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 number of students experiencing this.”
On the menu at the student dining hall on Sunday was chicken souvlaki, a rice dish with bean sauce and wedges, a student said.
Another said some students were vomiting out of the window due to not being able to get to the bathrooms quick enough.
Canterbury University has just entered their exam period, many students went to the Uni Hall reception on Monday morning to see if there would be any special consideration for those sitting exams.
“After initial conversations, Uni Hall began to switch the narrative from food poisoning to gastro, in order to avoid responsibility,” they said.
New Zealand Food Safety, the government body responsible for food safety, confirmed they were looking into the incident.
