Dozens of workers of a Jessup seafood distributor were taken to the hospital Monday after eating a noodle dish that had been prepared off-site, company representatives said Tuesday.

Two representatives for the distributor NAFCO said the employees started falling ill about three hours after eating pancit, a Filipino noodle dish. The representatives declined to provide their names but spoke with journalists at the NAFCO facility’s main office Tuesday morning.

A statement from the company described the incident as isolated and said NAFCO did not supply any meals to the affected staff, nor was the food distributed to the general public.

“It’s unfortunate because we are in the food business, but this happened in our parking lot,” one representative said. “If there’s a positive here, we have a huge food safety staff here and all of these contingencies.”

When employees began showing signs of food poisoning, a call was placed to 911, the representatives said.

First responders and paramedics arrived to the 7700 block of Chesapeake Bay Court around 3:45 p.m., according to the Howard County’s Department of Fire and Rescue Services. Crews from Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties helped with aid, according to fire officials.

County fire officials said 46 people were evaluated and transported to area hospitals.

Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center treated 26 patients for food poisoning on Monday, said Tia Mason Howard, director of hospital communications. All of the patients had been discharged as of Tuesday.

Lisa M. de Hernández, director of communications for the Howard County Health Department, said the agency preliminarily believes all the affected people were workers at the same company.

The health department is looking to interview the affected people as part of its investigation, she said, adding that officials are trying to locate everyone in Howard and other counties.

The most important thing, de Hernández said, is there is no danger to the public.

In a social media post Tuesday, the county’s health department said it was working closely with the Maryland Department of Health to investigate what caused the incident.

“Preliminary indications are that the illness is related to outside food prepared by an employee and shared with others at the facility,” the department said on X. “At this time we are not aware of any risk of further illnesses connected to this incident.”

NAFCO is one of the largest seafood distributors in the mid-Atlantic region and does not sell its products directly to the public. Workers who were affected by the reported food illness were asked to remain home Monday out of an abundance of caution.

“NAFCO continues investigating yesterday’s incident in which dozens of employees became ill after consuming food during their shift,” the company said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “The investigation has preliminarily determined that an employee prepared food at his home over the weekend, ultimately serving the homemade food to fellow employees who became sick yesterday. In the hours after the food was served during yesterday’s lunch break, nearly 50 employees displayed symptoms of food poisoning, the majority of whom were treated and released from area hospitals. NAFCO wishes those affected a safe and speedy recovery.”

The company stressed that “no consumers or other outlets have been affected by this incident,” and that the company “maintains the highest standards of food safety and regularly undergoes rigorous inspections by health authorities.”

“Its products continue to be safely produced and consumed by customers nationwide, and there are no issues related to its supply chain,” the company said.

The company representatives interviewed earlier said they were concerned about how the incident would affect their business and customer base. They’re planning to put a new policy in place banning employees from trading goods, including food or other products, on the premises, they said.

“We want our customers to feel safe,” a representative said. “We’d really like to put this to sleep.”