vomiting, nausea immediately after eating a soup

[biring]

Dear MedHelp
We have served a soup made from pumpkin (the halloween type) water from a good source, commercial powdered chicken bouillon and thyme and other spices, and some whipping cream. It was a blended soup. The pumpkin and water and spices had been boiling rater violently for quite some time. then it was blended then cream added. The soup had another taste than normal, so some people did not eat it because of that. 10 people ate soup. Some of them only ate soup and nothing else. all 10 felt nausea immediately after. A few with very forceful unvoluntary vomiting. Everybody were fine again after having vomited.
My question is what can have caused this.
this is the first incident of any kind for this kitchen. It is clean butthe understanding of the kitchenworkers of hygieje can improve.
Can the reason be that the pumpkin was not ripe enough?
The reaction could sound a bit like a reaction from green potatoes? or?
I have been reading what I could find on the internet yeasterdey (which was not much)
But we want to find the reason for this, because we do not want this to happen again.
Can you help?
Any ideas or extra infor you need?
Best regards
Birgit Ring

[Kevin Pho, MD]

Food poisoning is possible, as all the people who ate the soup felt the effects.  

It can be from a variety of sources, from poor handwashing to bad cream, fruits and vegetables.  

If the symptoms continue, sending the stool off for culture and analysis can exclude a bacterial or parasitic cause.

These options can be discussed with your personal physician.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Kevin Pho, M.D.
www.kevinmd.com
www.twitter.com/kevinmd

[biring]

To learn from this for the future, I ask more specificly:
1):
Can food poisoning be felt by the person(s) IMMEDIATELY (5 minutes to 15 minutes after consuming the food?
2):
Can persons affected by food poisoning be totally free of symptoms IMMEDIATELY after vomiting (None of the affected persons had any symptoms after they had vomited - 3 vomited involuntarily, 4 forced themselves to vomit, 2 did not vomit and they felt the symptoms disappear within a few hours)
3):
Can "agents" causing food poisoning survive in a vigorously boiling soup?
4):
the cream was not bad. We found the empty cartons and tasted the residues
5):
I tasted the soup again (after we found out it could ONLY have been the soup that was the cause) and before I forced myself to vomit, (because I was nauseaus too)
The taste was not of a food that was "off" or "fermented-like" it was a "not-pleasant" taste on the back of the tongue - like when you taste something unripe - or a bit like too much thyme.... it was not VERY bad, but that taste had been enough to make 2-3 people only try a spoonful an then eat the fish dish & salad instead - and thus not getting ill.
6): is it out of the question that the reason can be that the pumpkins used were not ripe or perhaps too bad in some parts? (remembering that they were boiling rather much)
7):
Is bad hygiene still a possibility. This is important to me, please?
I need to know to avoid repetitions.

Thank you for clarifying this, and please bear with me to be more specific in my questions.
Birgit RIng