stocks by the Health Department following an investigation into possible food poisoning.

A health investigation was launched after The Royal Gazette reported last week that at least three women had fallen ill after eating the same tuna dish at the same restaurant over the last two months.

Bridgette Roche and Susan Richardson said that within half an hour to 40 minutes of eating the Thai Tuna Salad at the Lobster Pot restaurant they began to feel hot, headachy and developed a very red rash all over their bodies.

The women were later told of a third woman who had experienced the same symptoms after the same meal. Both women went to the doctor and were told they had an allergic reaction although neither had any known allergies.

It now appears that the reactions suffered by the women may have been from Scombroid poisoning -- a fairly common poisoning which occurs from eating contaminated tuna -- rather than an allergy.

Scombroid poisoning symptoms are easily confused with allergic reactions, according to the US Food and Drug Administration information sheets on the poisoning.

After the story ran in The Royal Gazette , Health Department officers went to the restaurant to question the staff and test the tuna, said Environmental Health Officer Estelyn Harvey.

The tests found high levels of bacteria, she said, but not the histamine level which is used to positively confirm Scrombroid poisoning. But that doesn't mean it wasn't Scombroid, she said.

"It could be an indication that there was Scombroid in one of the packs put through before the testing,'' she said. Health officers also found that one of the packs was improperly vacuum-sealed.

The test results were enough for the Health Department to order all of the tuna from that supplier destroyed.

The tuna in question is supplied to several Island restaurants through wholesaler Butterfield & Vallis. Butterfield & Vallis receives the tuna from Beaver Street Fisheries out of Jacksonville, Florida. The product originates in Indonesia, Beaver Street representative Darrell Glover told The Royal Gazette last week.

The tuna was being recalled from six local restaurants across the Island, Butterfield & Vallis representative Jay Fiddick said last night. Calls were being made last night to tell the restaurants to stop selling the product immediately.

Health department orders recall of contaminated tuna And Mr. Fiddick said that another shipment of the tuna is on its way to the Island but it will be sent directly to the Health Department for testing rather than sold. Any supplies currently in the warehouse have been put aside and marked "not for sale'', he said. "The Health Department wants to destroy them.'' Since the article ran last week an additional three people have contacted The Royal Gazette to say that they too experienced similar reactions after eating tuna dishes locally.

"It could have been us you were quoting,'' said Dermot Caslin after reading of the symptoms experienced by Ms Roche and Ms Richardson.

Mr. Caslin and an office colleague had experienced experience after eating different tuna dishes at the Lobster Pot in mid-to-late November. The two had dined with a third colleague who did not have tuna and did not fall unwell.

Mr. Caslin said he contacted the restaurant but was told at that time that they'd had no complaints. "It all can't be coincidence,'' he said. "There must be some common denominator.'' Both Mr. Caslin and his colleague were treated by doctors and he said the effects subsided after about two days.

A third man wrote a letter to the Editor, saying he too had a similar reaction from eating tuna at the Lobster Pot -- although it was several years ago.

Robert Keill wrote that while he was originally diagnosed with an allergy to the conch chowder, a year later after visiting an allergist in the US he discovered that was not the case. "The doctor advised that I probably suffered from Scombroid poisoning.'' Ms Harvey told The Royal Gazette that one of the problems with Scombroid poisoning is that "there is no way of testing until it happens''.

And she said that a small part of the fish can become contaminated without the entire fish being affected.

When it does occur it "would be much like an allergic reaction,'' she said.

"It doesn't last long but it is very frightening.''