Did a salad at a German hotel fell Ukraine players at Euro 2012?

Salad stigma persists in Germany.

A bad salad at a German hotel might have caused the food poisoning that sickened 10 players of European Championship co-host Ukraine before their final warm-up game against Turkey on Tuesday.

Ukraine team doctor Leonid Mironov believes the weakened players suffered from “the bad effects of eating a salad,” the Interfax news agency reported Thursday.

Team spokesman Oleksandr Glyvynskiy told The Associated Press there will be no further investigation into the cause of the food poisoning, despite head coach Oleg Blochin suggesting on Ukrainian TV that “it may have been sabotage.”

Euro 2012 co-hosts hit with vomit-causing illnesses

With the Stanley Cup Finals set to end tonight (I’m not convinced New Jersey will prolong the inevitable), my sports-watching efforts will soon switch to Euro 2012 soccer (or non-American football). It’s not the most exciting sport but I do like the lack of commercial breaks. According to Sports Illustrated, co-host Ukraine’s team has been hit by some sort of pathogen that is affecting 10 players and almost cancelled a warm-up game yesterday. Lots of vomit associated with a team sport? Sounds like norovirus.

The main concern is over Ukraine’s most-capped player, midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, who has been on a drip.
"We have to bring the guys out of this condition,” coach Oleg Blokhin said. "It’s good that the poisoning didn’t happen on June 11. For me, the most important thing is healthy footballers.”

Team doctor Leonid Mironov told reporters Wednesday that Tuesday’s match against Turkey, which Ukraine lost 2-0, was almost cancelled after the players had come down with the bug that was causing some of them to vomit. Blokhin said that fullback Bohdan Butko and midfielder Denys Harmash played against Turkey despite being ill.

Beware the botulism at Euro 2012

Headed to Poland to watch some footy in June? The World Health Organisation has some advice: beware the botulism.

The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine between June 8 and July, 1 2012.

WHO warns that Poland has a particularly high incidence of botulism, which can be foodborne if the dish is improperly canned or preserved.