http://www.soshiok.com/articles/12830
Women faints after eating double cheeseburger meal at McDonald's
Tue May 12 2009
Tan May Ping & Geraldine Yeo
The New Paper
She and two friends who ate from same restaurant also have stomach trouble.
Miss Layanthi Sellahewa went to the toilet five or six times before fainting.
Singapore, May 11, 2009 - The three women wanted a quick lunch, so they stepped into a McDonald’s outlet on North Bridge Road.
Two of them had diarrhoea later. A female friend who ate their take-away also had the same problem.
They claim it was the McDonald’s food, which they had on Tuesday, that made them all ill.
Miss Layanthi Sellahewa, 29, was the worst hit. She had a double cheeseburger.
She and her friends are students from a private tuition school in the vicinity.
At 6.30pm that day, Miss Sellahewa said she started to feel uneasy and her stomach felt bloated. A bout of diarrhoea followed.
“That night, I was sweating and feeling giddy,” the Sri Lankan national said.
She claimed she got up five or six times to use the toilet. She lives in a single room in a Newton hostel and shares the toilet with other residents on the same level.
“Around 4.40am, I made the last visit to the toilet,” she said.
It was then that she fainted on the toilet floor next to the sinks.
She said: “Luckily for me, a girl from my dormitory was also in the toilet at that time. She helped me up and back to my room.”
She did not realise it at first but she had hit her head on the floor when she fainted. While walking back to her room, she felt pain on the left side of her head where it was swollen.
When she went to school the next day, she found out that two of her friends who had eaten food from the same outlet the day before had also fallen ill.
Miss Sellahewa had taken packed food for Miss Cheah Pei Shan, 24, who works at the school.
Half an hour after eating her Filet-O-Fish meal, Miss Cheah said she felt her stomach churning and she had diarrhoea.
“I went to the toilet four times until I went home at 10pm,” she said.
Later, she took two small bottles of charcoal pills, and felt better. The third person who fell ill, Miss Claire Chow, 22, also took charcoal pills.
Miss Sellahewa went to the doctor that afternoon, and was given medicine for her diarrhoea and a referral letter to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for an X-ray to check for head injuries.
Miss Sellahewa claimed she did not eat anything else that day except cereal for breakfast. The other two said they did not eat anything before the McDonald’s meal.
The women said they did not share their food.
First time
Miss Cheah said she eats at McDonald’s three or four times a week, and nothing of this sort has ever happened before.
“It could be in the handling of the food. I hope the company will look into it,” added Miss Cheah.
Miss Sellahewa said she sent an e-mail complaint through the McDonald’s Singapore website last Wednesday.
She said the company called her a few times and offered to reimburse her medical expenses, but she declined.
“I don’t care about the money,” she said, “I’m talking about people’s health and lives here.”
When contacted, McDonald’s Restaurants communications director Linda Ming said the company is aware of the incident and has contacted Miss Sellahewa to ask after her.
She said: “We have not received any other food-related customer complaints about McDonald’s at North Bridge Road and believe this is an isolated incident.
“We take all feedback and complaints seriously and are investigating the matter.”
She said the company is also following up with Miss Sellahewa.
Women faints after eating double cheeseburger meal at McDonald's
Tue May 12 2009
Tan May Ping & Geraldine Yeo
The New Paper
She and two friends who ate from same restaurant also have stomach trouble.
Miss Layanthi Sellahewa went to the toilet five or six times before fainting.
Singapore, May 11, 2009 - The three women wanted a quick lunch, so they stepped into a McDonald’s outlet on North Bridge Road.
Two of them had diarrhoea later. A female friend who ate their take-away also had the same problem.
They claim it was the McDonald’s food, which they had on Tuesday, that made them all ill.
Miss Layanthi Sellahewa, 29, was the worst hit. She had a double cheeseburger.
She and her friends are students from a private tuition school in the vicinity.
At 6.30pm that day, Miss Sellahewa said she started to feel uneasy and her stomach felt bloated. A bout of diarrhoea followed.
“That night, I was sweating and feeling giddy,” the Sri Lankan national said.
She claimed she got up five or six times to use the toilet. She lives in a single room in a Newton hostel and shares the toilet with other residents on the same level.
“Around 4.40am, I made the last visit to the toilet,” she said.
It was then that she fainted on the toilet floor next to the sinks.
She said: “Luckily for me, a girl from my dormitory was also in the toilet at that time. She helped me up and back to my room.”
She did not realise it at first but she had hit her head on the floor when she fainted. While walking back to her room, she felt pain on the left side of her head where it was swollen.
When she went to school the next day, she found out that two of her friends who had eaten food from the same outlet the day before had also fallen ill.
Miss Sellahewa had taken packed food for Miss Cheah Pei Shan, 24, who works at the school.
Half an hour after eating her Filet-O-Fish meal, Miss Cheah said she felt her stomach churning and she had diarrhoea.
“I went to the toilet four times until I went home at 10pm,” she said.
Later, she took two small bottles of charcoal pills, and felt better. The third person who fell ill, Miss Claire Chow, 22, also took charcoal pills.
Miss Sellahewa went to the doctor that afternoon, and was given medicine for her diarrhoea and a referral letter to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for an X-ray to check for head injuries.
Miss Sellahewa claimed she did not eat anything else that day except cereal for breakfast. The other two said they did not eat anything before the McDonald’s meal.
The women said they did not share their food.
First time
Miss Cheah said she eats at McDonald’s three or four times a week, and nothing of this sort has ever happened before.
“It could be in the handling of the food. I hope the company will look into it,” added Miss Cheah.
Miss Sellahewa said she sent an e-mail complaint through the McDonald’s Singapore website last Wednesday.
She said the company called her a few times and offered to reimburse her medical expenses, but she declined.
“I don’t care about the money,” she said, “I’m talking about people’s health and lives here.”
When contacted, McDonald’s Restaurants communications director Linda Ming said the company is aware of the incident and has contacted Miss Sellahewa to ask after her.
She said: “We have not received any other food-related customer complaints about McDonald’s at North Bridge Road and believe this is an isolated incident.
“We take all feedback and complaints seriously and are investigating the matter.”
She said the company is also following up with Miss Sellahewa.
