After taking milk tea: "Food poisoning" kills 1, downs 34 City Health closes Tea House pending police probe

ILOILO CITY, Philippines - A 27-year-old man died while 34 others were taken to different hospitals in this city allegedly due to food poisoning.

All of the victims have one thing in common: They consumed milk tea on September 24 and 25 at Dakasi Milk Tea House located at the Ayala Techno-Hub building at Smallville Complex in Mandurriao district of this city. Most of them consumed milk teas laced with milk pudding or leche flan.

The patients were treated at St. Paul's Hospital, Iloilo Doctors' Hospital and St. Therese-MTCC Hospital after they reportedly suffered stomach pain, dizziness and vomiting and began feeling weak. Of the 34 who were hospitalized, nine are still confined in the hospital to date.

In an earlier report, Glen Jesse Alonsabe, regional epidemiologist of DOH-6, said the man who died was Ben Jason Cua Chang. He allegedly died due to fatal arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat, which occurs when the electrical impulses to the heart that coordinate heartbeats are not working properly, making the heart beat too fast or too slow or inconsistently.

The hospital where Chang was brought did not issue any medical bulletin on what caused his death but he reportedly suffered from loose bowel movement that led to dehydration, causing his kidneys to fail and eventually resulted in arrhythmia.

But Chang's female relative posted on Facebook that "he died of kidney shutdown due to severe dehydration" and "not primarily because of drinking milk tea at Dakasi." Further, she claimed that "negligence and carelessness of some health care professionals at a private hospital contributed to his death. We are not accusing anybody of our loss."

Immediately following the incident, the Iloilo City Health Office ordered the closure of Dakasi pending investigation of the incident. City Health officer Urminico Baronda said DOH-6 and the Food and Drug Administration took samples of the suspected ingredient that may have caused the suspected food poisoning.

Senior Insp. Lea Rose Peña, chief of the Mandurriao Police Station, said his men already started with their probe. Several victims, including a group of Chinese tourists from Cebu and their house helps, already booked their complaint against Dakasi.

The Dakasi management, in a statement to GMA-Iloilo, said it is waiting for the results of the investigation. "We are very sorry for what happened. No one wanted this, least of all us. But we cannot be totally sure that the cause of their food poisoning is their consumption of Dakasi products. We still have to wait for the results of the official investigation being conducted by the DOH and the CHO. Until then we cannot give any further statements," the statement said.

Since mid-May 2013, Taiwanese health authorities have confiscated more than 312 tons of food starch-a key ingredient in bubble tea-that was found to have been tainted with maleic acid, a cheap food additive that can cause kidney failure when consumed in large doses.

In an article written by Jenny W. Hsu, the toxic starch has also poisoned Taiwan's food exports. Known as bubble or pearl tea, the combination of chewy tapioca balls and milk tea has come a long way since it was first concocted at a small tea shop in central Taiwan 30 years ago.

Not only it is the most popular drink on the island, the beverage has taken the world by its palate. Bubble tea shops can be found in Berlin, Istanbul, Paris, London, Sydney, Japan, Singapore and across China.  (FREEMAN)