Food poisoning has sent at least 479 students at Cairo’s al-Azhar university to hospitals and sent hundreds of others into the streets to demand the resignation of the school’s president. 
The outbreak is so politically charged that Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi took a page out of the West’s political playbook by visiting one of the hospitals where the sickened students are being treated. Egypt’s Health Ministry said that while hundreds were ill, there have been no deaths recorded among the patients. Those suffering from food poisoning were divided among several Cairo hospitals so they could receive medical attention more promptly. The Health Ministry said all the cases were stabilized. “Basic hygiene standards are not always observed at Egyptian universities, but this incident is one of the largest cases of food poisoning in recent years,” said BBC, reporting from Cairo. Associated with al-Azhar mosque, the university is the most prestigious in the Sunni Muslim world. The student outrage over the food poisoning outbreak sent hundreds into the main roads around campus, brining traffic to a halt. One of the other protest targets for students was the offices of Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and Egypt’s top Muslim cleric, who presides over the Cairo university. Campus meals were not that popular before they were being blamed for the current food poisoning outbreak. Egypt’s top prosecutor has called for an expert panel to investigate the incident and ordered the collection of food samples from the meals served to the ill students. While investigators seek to find those responsible, the university has already suspended its food services director and some other staff members. A team from the Health Ministry was to have arrived on campus Tuesday. Meals making students sick were served in the university’s dormitories in Cairo’s Nasr City district.
