Five dead from suspected food poisoning at French retirement home

Five residents at a retirement home in southern France have died and more than a dozen others are in a serious condition after a suspected case of mass food poisoning, officials said Monday.

Twenty-two people at the privately operated Cheneraie residence in Lherm, a town south of Toulouse, began showing symptoms including vomiting after dinner on Sunday, police said.

Four deaths were initially announced by officials, and a source close to the investigation later told AFP that a fifth person had died.

The victims -- four women and a man -- were aged between 72 and 95.

Toulouse prosecutor Dominique Alzeari said 19 of the 82 residents remained under supervision, 16 of whom were in very poor condition although their lives were not thought to be in danger.

Alzeari said investigations into apparent cases of "involuntary homicide and unintentional injury" would be lengthy, and underscored the "serious" nature of the affair.

The meals involved have been kept for analysis, the regional health agency said, and residents were being questioned about what they ate.

The management company Korian, which runs the home that opened in 2006 under licence from the French government, said in a statement that it "produces meals onsite with its own kitchen teams."
The daughter of two other residents, who gave her name as Chantal, told journalists outside the home that "apparently the problem was with meals prepared specially for palliative care patients."