Air Atlantic: 700 staff members sick after Christmas dinner

It is suspected that around 700 employees of Airbus Atlantic became unwell during the company’s Christmas meal, as per the French health officials.

According to Agence Régionale de Santé (ARS), workers at the aerospace group’s site in western France were left experiencing diarrhoea and vomiting.

Food that was served at the pre-Christmas feast that turned into a nightmare is still unknown.

Airbus told the BBC, however, that only “around 100” were taken ill.

In a statement, it said it was cooperating with the ARS “to identify the cause of the illness and ensure this cannot happen again in the future”.

With 15,000 employees across five countries, Airbus Atlantic is a division of Airbus, the largest aeroplane manufacturer in the world.

The meal was held last week, and while ARS did not specify what specifically might have caused the illness, it did report earlier on Friday that some diners displayed “clinical signs of vomiting or diarrhoea.”

The company informed the AFP that an investigation was being conducted to identify the cause of the widespread food poisoning.

The larger Airbus group offers goods and services to the aerospace, defence, space, and aviation industries, and employs 134,000 people.

In a different instance that happened in France earlier this year, a Greek national died and several others became ill after eating food contaminated with the rare foodborne illness botulism at a Bordeaux restaurant.