ST ANN, Jamaica — A man is now dead and his son hospitalised in a suspected case of food poisoning.

The deceased, 58-year-old farmer Joseph George Stephenson, and his son Irwin Stephenson of Yankee District, Bahamia in St Ann, became ill on May 9 after a meal of fish with rice and peas.

According to police reports, both men began showing symptoms of diarrhoea which escalated until Friday, May 14.

Joseph Stephenson’s stepson Albert Rose was at the home, in the process of having both men seek medical care, when the farmer’s body was found slumped over his dining table. Irwin Stephenson was rushed to Percy Junor Hospital in Manchester where he was treated and released.

Samples of his urine were collected to be tested for traces of foreign substance, but the police suspect that the Grunt fish he and his father consumed was contaminated with embalming liquid.

Samples of the meal have been collected.

If it is confirmed that the elder Stephenson died from food poisoning, he would be the second person in St Ann who has suffered this fate since the start of the year.

In January, 10-year-old Richard Immanuel of Top Bay, Corner Street in Discovery Bay, who was among several people who purchased and consumed a drink from a vendor, also died. That case is still being investigated.

Donicka Robinson