Five die after eating foie gras at French retirement home

Nineteen other patients fell ill with signs of food poisoning

A gendarme stands at the entrance of La Cheneraie where the suspected case of mass food poisoning took place (ERIC CABANIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Five elderly people have died after eating a foie gras salad at a care home in France.

Four women aged between 76 and 95 and a man aged 76 died on Sunday night within hours of consuming the meal at the home near Toulouse.

In addition, 19 patients fell ill with vomiting and other signs of food poisoning.

The meals they were served have been held for analysis.

The granddaughter of one of the women who died told local newspaper La Depeche du Midi: "I still have the menu in my bag and I know that last night they ate Perigord salad. So what does it mean, maybe it was the foie gras?”

Toulouse’s public prosecutor’s office said a post-mortem would be carried out to determine cause of death.

The home, La Cheneraie in Lherm, has 82 residents in total and last passed a hygiene inspection in February.

The Korian group, which runs the home, said meals are cooked on site.

However, the son of one of the dead women told the paper a doctor at the home had told him the meals had been delivered.

The public prosecutor’s office said: “The seriousness of this event calls for complex investigative measures of which the results can’t be reached too quickly.”