Patients at the Jorhat Mission Hospital on Saturday. Picture by Pranjal Ripu

Guwahati, July 19: Nearly 100 people were taken ill in Jorhat town of Upper Assam after eating mayonnaise rolls from a popular eatery yesterday. Nearly 25 of them had to be hospitalised.

Most of the affected people ate the rolls along with other delicacies at two get-togethers organised by two households on the Regional Research Laboratory campus and the Jorhat Christian Mission Hospital campus. Many others who fell ill had rolls from the same eatery.

The joint director of health in Jorhat, Dr A.K. Neog, said 25 persons living on and around the Mission campus were admitted to Mission Hospital with complaints of vomiting, dizziness, loose motion and abdominal pain, but their conditions were stable.

In the other case, 35 persons rushed to RRl Hospital with similar complaints but none had to be admitted, he added.

“It is a case of food poisoning but what caused it is not known. We will send food samples to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Guwahati for testing,” he said.

Neog and two food inspectors collected samples from the house of RRL scientist Tridip Goswami who had ordered the food from Cherry Garden and the factory where it was prepared.

Partha Saikia, who is associated with Cherry Garden, said it was too early to specify the cause of poisoning.

“We have extended all help to the administration in getting to the bottom of the case. We supplied over 300 mayonnaise rolls yesterday but received complaints from only two customers,” he added.