The producer of MasterChef in Spain has apologised to the contestants for the food poisoning suffered by 44 people after tasting the dishes that were served to them.
The contestants of the culinary competition prepared a menu for the 120 workers of the famous Oceanogràfic aquarium in Valencia to celebrate their 20th year of operation.
Under the guidance of popular Spanish chef, Rakel Cernicharo, the contestants prepared seafood dishes such as sea bass and mussels, while for dessert they were asked to make a Japanese seaweed cheesecake.
However, things did not go as expected. Most likely, the contestants either did not cook the ingredients properly, or the seafood they used was not fresh.
As a result, 44 of the people who tried the dishes got food poisoning. According to a report by El Pais, the symptoms they showed were vomiting and gastrointestinal problems.
One of them even described the unpleasant experience on his personal Twitter account. In his post he wrote: "Thank you MasterChef for the worst culinary experience I have ever had in my life."
Another woman revealed that she lost 5kg due to gastroenteritis, while she emphasised that she needed injections of Primperan to be able to recover.
The producer of the program, Shine Iberia expressed its regret for the unfortunate incident and claimed that it is the first such incident in the 11 years that the cooking competition has been broadcast.
"This is an absolutely exceptional case in these 11 years of MasterChef in Spain, a program in which it is an absolute priority to guarantee the nutritional care of the people involved," he said.
Spain's Ministry of Health has launched investigations into the causes of mass food poisoning. The incident took place in January but was shown on Spanish television yesterday.
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