GAMES: Athletes lunch trashed over poisoning

Gold medalist Japan's Kosuke Hagino (C) poses silver medalist Japan's Hiromasa Fujimori and bronze medalist China's Wang Shun after the men's 200m individual medley final

Asian Games organisers prevented a potential mass outbreak of food poisoning after salmonella was detected in lunch boxes prepared for athletes, officials said Monday.

The bacteria was found Sunday in meat included on boxed meals provided by a food caterer.

A spokesman for the organising committee told AFP that all 76 lunch boxes prepared by the firm were immediately thrown away.

"It is our policy to dump the entire stock even if one sample is found to have been contaminated," the spokesman said.

"We’ve decided to replace the food catering company with a different one following the unfortunate event," he added.

Among those who had requested the packed meals were athletes competing in shooting, fencing, weightlifting and sepak takraw.

They were forced to wait several hours until a replacement snack of bread and milk was provided -- though some chose to skip the meal entirely.

The salmonella was detected by South Korean food safety officials who screen all the athletes’ food that is provided by authorised caterers.

Salmonella poisoning can induce severe stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting, with symptoms that last 4-7 days