Trương Thị Phượng (left), owner of Bánh Mỳ Phượng Shop in Hội An Township is working with the local authorities after the food poisoning incident. — Photo cafef.vn

QUẢNG NAM — The owner of Bánh Mỳ Phượng in Hội An of Quảng Nam Province has sent a heartfelt letter to clients who suffered from food poisoning after eating her sandwiches.

In the letter, Trương Thị Phượng, the owner of the bánh mỳ shop that is well known to both domestic and international visitors, said: “For the last few days, the food poisoning incident related to Bánh Mỳ Phượng shop has affected the health, spirit and daily life of customers.”

“We are very sad and regretful for the unexpected incident in the food and beverage business in general and our shop in particular. This is our mistake in the process of controlling input materials and finished product quality before selling to customers."

"Our family representatives also came to visit, encourage, and ease the pain that customers have been receiving treatment at hospitals. We also continue to receive customers’ feedback regarding this incident via our hotline.”

“Once again, we sincerely apologise to our customers. We hope this apology will be accepted by our customers.”

Phượng said that she is currently waiting for test results and has closely worked with the local authorities, the departments of Health, and Food Safety to determine the specific cause of the food poisoning and implement corrective measures.

Phượng also pledged the best quality of her bánh mỳ if the shop is permitted to re-open after overcoming the consequences of the incident.

Previously, 150 people were hospitalised after eating bánh mỳ at Phượng bread shop in Hội An Township on September 12.

Most patients had symptoms of high fever, mild vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea.

The time of eating by the patients was from 8am to 8pm on September 11.

The interval between the appearance of symptoms and the time of eating was at least two hours, at most 16 hours (duration of illness ranged from 2-16 hours).

The inspection team of the Food Safety Department collected food samples for testing and conducted an investigation to determine the cause of the incident.

The shop was requested to temporarily close while the cause of the incident was investigated.

So far, all patients have been stabilised and discharged from the hospitals. — VNS