Human teeth were found in a meal served to an asylum seeker in the Manus Island detention center in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The two human teeth were found in a meal served at lunchtime at the Oscar compound on Saturday. The asylum seeker photographed the teeth and made a formal complaint to detention center managers.
“This is the food they give us, always like this, always disgusting,” an asylum seeker — not the complainant — told reporters. “They treat us like animals, worse than animals.”
Transfield Services in Sydney did not return repeated calls and e-mails from reporters.
However, two Transfield staff on the island separately confirmed to reporters the teeth had been found and a complaint lodged.
“We know about that,” one said. “People are talking about it.”
It is not known from whose mouth the teeth came or how they came to be in the food. They appeared to be stained red with betel nut juice. The nut is widely chewed on the island, mixed with powdered lime and mustard stick.
Several asylum seekers refused to eat lunch after the teeth were found.
It is not the first time teeth have been found in food in the detention center. In 2013, Amnesty International reported that a tooth had been found in a meal served there.
In addition, the teeth being found follows a mass outbreak of food poisoning affecting up to 100 asylum seekers and refugees in the detention center on Friday.
Transfield staff initially tried to tell asylum seekers they were struck by gastroenteritis and diarrhea — all of them on the same day — because they did not wash their hands before eating.
Staff have since conceded to asylum seekers that their illnesses were caused by food poisoning.
One asylum seeker told reporters detention center staff had told him that since the outbreak, insects had been found in food and food had been discovered stored in unhygienic conditions.
“They are going to have a big meeting to check samples of food every day from the beginning, such as preparation, loading to distribution and serving. All of this is going to happen tomorrow or the next day,” the asylum seeker said.
Hygiene has been a consistent problem on Manus. Soap often runs out in dispensers in toilets and replacements are slow to come to the island. Toilet paper is also often in short supply, asylum seekers have told reporters.
In January, there was no running water in the detention center for several days.
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