84 kids hospitalized with food poisoning after lunch at kindergarten
Scores of young children from a nursery school in the southern province of Vinh Long were hospitalized with food poisoning after having lunch at school on October 19.
The children started vomiting and experienced stomachaches and diarrhea. The school called parents to pick their children up but the situation quickly worsened with dozens of them falling sick.
A public hospital in the area had to arrange extra beds to receive 84 children between three and five years old, nearly a third of the school’s 273 students.
Doctors at the hospital said nine serious cases were put on drips. More than half of the children had been discharged by October 20, and the rest are stable.
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| Children receive treatment for food poisoning at a hospital in Vinh Long Province on October 19. |
Authorities in Vinh Long have taken food samples and are investigating the cause of the problem.
Mass food poisoning occurs multiple times every year in Vietnam, mostly due to poor management of canteens and quality, but legal action is not often taken.
In March, Ho Chi Minh City fined Korean fast food chain Lotteria Vietnam VND146 million (US$6,500) for a mass poisoning case that put 60 workers from a Danish company in hospital.
The city also fined Tam Tam Company, a local lunch provider, VND48 million (US$2,200) after its food poisoned 44 primary school students in the city.
