A four-year-old boy, not realizing that his meal of fish and chips contained worms, started vomiting immediately after eating it. An ambulance was called and the boy was taken to hospital. His father said he experienced illness along with fever for three days and that other family members who ate the same meal experienced similar symptoms. The family asked not to be named. They were staying in a hotel in the Midlands when the incident happened last month and have since been rehoused by the Home Office. Environmental health officials identified the insects as parasitic roundworms. A council environmental health officer briefed on the matter said cooking generally kills these worms. “However, I appreciate that it is an unpleasant experience to encounter one in your meal,” he added. He said he would visit the hotel to conduct spot checks. The family made a formal complaint to Home Office contractor Serco. In her reply, a Serco official wrote: “I can confirm there was an insect in the food and the hotel was informed at the time. They apologized at the time and the housing staff will check the quality of the food before service.” The father of the family said the incident was very painful. “The food at the hotel was really bad and we had to call paramedics after my four-year-old son ate the meal and started vomiting,” she said. It is one of several problems identified in the Home Office’s hotel accommodation for asylum seekers. A recent report by the Refugee Council found that the Home Office’s use of hotels for asylum seekers tripled last year and that many tenants raised concerns about poor conditions. Asylum seekers have raised concerns with the Guardian about family members being housed separately in different hotels. In one case, an asylum seeker was separated from her husband and two children aged five and 12. The father of this family told the Guardian: “Our children need their mother very much. We have applied to Migrant Aid [a Home Office helpline for asylum seekers] our family to be accommodated together in the same hotel but there was no response.” Home Office sources said: “Now this case has been brought to our attention, we will work to house them together.” Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST A third family of asylum seekers, who are being hosted at a hotel on England’s south coast by Home Office contractors Clearsprings, complained that hotel staff entered their rooms and filmed some of their belongings without their permission. “They are abusing our rights,” the father said. Home Office sources denied they had entered the family’s room without permission and said the visit was part of “standard welfare checks”. In relation to the maggot incident, Jenni Halliday, Serco’s contract manager for asylum seeker accommodation, said: “Clearly this food is unacceptable and should never have been served to asylum seekers in the hotel. We have apologized to the family concerned and are working with hotel management to ensure all food meets the required standards.” A Home Office spokesman said: “Asylum seekers are provided with safe, secure accommodation funded by the UK taxpayer. We expect high standards from all our providers and will look into this particular case.”
