2 food poisoning victims still in hospital

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines  – Two of the 42 food poisoning survivors, mostly kindergarten and Grade 1 pupils, yesterday remained under close monitoring three days after consuming a noodle dish with a bleaching substance mistaken for salt in a public school in Cagayan.

The rest of the victims had been discharged from the Cagayan Valley Medical Center and the People’s General Hospital, both in Tuguegarao City, where they were rushed last Tuesday due to dizziness, vomiting and loose bowel movement.

In a report, Dr. James Guzman, city health officer, said two of the victims, a five-year-old male kindergarten pupil and a seven-year-old female Grade 1 pupil, remained confined due to prolonged stomachache and fever.  

The food poisoning incident at the Larion Bajo Elementary School claimed the lives of Eloisa Ballad and Jessica Mae Bangayan, both five-year-old kindergarten pupils.

Reports said traces of oxalic acid, a colorless, salt-like bleaching agent used in cleaning marble tiles, were found in the noodle dish locally called “sinantac.” Police said the substance could have been mistaken for iodized salt.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro, who was in Cagayan a day after the food poisoning to personally look into the victims’ conditions, has formed a panel to investigate the incident.

– With Raymund Catindig