The Ministry of Health has dealt with over 150 cases of food poisoning in a recent incident in the Shihabieh area in Karak, 140km south of the capital, a Health Ministry official said on Monday.

Bashir Qasir, head of the ministry’s communicable diseases department, said the results of an analysis of stool samples taken from the patients proved the presence of Shigella bacteria.

Samples taken from a popular restaurant in the area that serves hummus, and stool samples from restaurant workers also point to the presence of Shigella bacteria.

“The ministry’s health team took precautions by closing the suspected restaurant on Saturday morning until the results of the samples taken from there are fully tested,” Qasir told The Jordan Times over the phone, noting that tests of the food samples are not fully conclusive.

The official said the poisoning is not related to water pollution.