Jeddah Municipality has levied a penalty worth SR700,000 on a catering company for health violations last September.

The municipality announced on Thursday that the catering company will pay a fine of SR700,000 and face closure for one month for poisoning 215 Filipino expatriates working for a company in Yanbu.

Sami Nawar, Jeddah Muncipality spokesman, said that several bodies including the Yanbu Food and Drug Authority, the Health Ministry and Jeddah Municipality’s quality control department launched a full-scale investigation to probe the food poisoning incident. The investigation traced the incident to the catering company and inspections were carried out in the company’s warehouse and kitchen facility in Jeddah.

The statement revealed that the utensils and kitchen environment were unhygienic and 50 employees working in the kitchen did not possess health cards.

Nawar pointed out that the fines are the largest penalty ever imposed on a food company.