Spoiled spaghetti downs 82 kids, 3 adults in Tarlac

TARLAC CITY — Eighty-two children aged one to 14 and three adults were rushed to the provincial hospital here for food poisoning Wednesday night after they ate spoiled spaghetti during a day care center’s graduation ceremonies, health officials said.

The victims were under observation after being put on intravenous drips at the Tarlac Provincial Hospital.

They suffered abdominal pains, vomiting and diarrhea on Wednesday night shortly after eating spaghetti served during graduation ceremonies of a day care center in Barangay Murcia in nearby Concepcion town.

Preliminary laboratory results indicated the poisoning was caused by staphylococcus, a bacteria that grow when food is not properly prepared and stored, health authorities said.

The mass poisoning came days after 28 schoolchildren died in Mabini town in Bohol from eating cassava sweets that were accidentally prepared with pesticide.

Dr. Ricardo Ramos, hospital chief and Tarlac provincial health officer, said 57 of the food poisoning victims were admitted at about 11 p.m. Wednesday and the rest the following morning.

Ramos said a private caterer contracted by the barangay chairman’s wife cooked and packed the spaghetti at about 10 a.m. Wednesday but it was only at 8 p.m., or 10 hours later, when it was served after the graduation rites.

Even Concepcion Mayor Noel Villanueva, who was the guest of honor and speaker, reportedly suffered loose bowel movement after partaking of the spoiled spaghetti but was not hospitalized.

Samples of the spaghetti and fried chicken served during the graduation rites were sent to the Department of Health’s poison prevention center in Manila for laboratory tests.

Ramos said all victims were declared in safe condition although the children were placed under 24-hour observation at the hospital.

Asked about the incident, President Arroyo said, "We will check on the facts and of course, we will act accordingly."

The DOH reiterated its advice to the public to observe safe handling and preparation of food.

Dr. Luningning Villa, head of the DOH’s emerging diseases unit, said food easily gets spoiled during summer.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation is mulling the filing of charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and frustrated homicide against 68-year-old Ana Marie Luyong, who had cooked the cassava sweets laced with coumaphos, an organo phosphate used as insecticide or pesticide, that killed the 28 Bohol pupils.

NBI forensic chief Isabel Pagulayan said the vat which Luyong used to cook the delicacy yielded coumaphos residues which matched those found in the blood and stomach samples of two of the victims. — With Ric Sapnu, Sheila Crisostomo, Evelyn Macairan, Aurea Calica and AFP