BEIRUT: The Health Ministry announced Monday that sweets purchased from a Bekaa Valley street vendor were responsible for poisoning seven people over the weekend.

The vendor, an employee at al-Jarrah pastry shop, was selling the sweets from a vehicle that lacked refrigerators, the ministry said.

Seven people, including a mother and her four children aged between 10 and 18, were admitted to President Elias Hrawi Public Hospital in Maalaqa Sunday.

They said they felt sick after eating Arabic sweets from the vendor in the Zahle district town of Faour.

Health Ministry inspectors, according to the statement, had banned the vendor from working Saturday and disposed all the pastries he was selling for failing to meet health standards.

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