Eleven people, including four women and seven children, were admitted to a private nursing home in Mumbai’s Nalasopara with complaints of vomiting after consuming a birthday cake on Saturday. All were stable and were discharged at 8 pm on Sunday, doctors said.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials who conducted an inspection did not substantiate claims that part of a dead lizard was found in the cake.

Doctors at Vijaylaxmi Hospital in Nalasopara said the patients could have been discharged within a few hours, however, since it was a medico-legal case, the hospital was required to keep them admitted for 24 hours as per protocol.

FDA officials inspected Shree Chamunda Cake Shop, located in a chawl in Nalasopara, and collected samples of the cake consumed by the patients as well as other cakes kept at the shop.

FDA officials said a claim that parts of a lizard were found in the cake was not substantiated during their inspection. However, officials said they observed a minute portion of what appeared to be dried bombil, roughly the size of a fingertip and silver in colour but the material was not considered evidence of food poisoning.

However, the FDA has issued a stop-work notice to the cake shop after finding violations of prescribed food-manufacturing and hygiene practices. “The food-manufacturing practices were not being followed. We observed violations under Schedule 4,” an FDA official said.

The samples collected from the cake consumed by the those fell sick and other products at the shop are being examined. Further action will depend on the findings of the investigation, officials said.