Stale food downs 17 pupils in North Cotabato town

KIDAPAWAN CITY — At least 17 elementary pupils in the town of M’lang, North Cotabato were rushed to the hospital after eating packed lunch served during the Summer Peace Camp on Wednesday, a local official said.

M’lang Vice Mayor Joselito Piñol said pupils from Palma Perez Elementary School believed the cause of their illness was the packed lunch, which was served during breakfast that day but which they ate at dinnertime.

A few minutes after consuming the food, they experienced stomach ache, vomiting and loose bowel movement, all symptoms of possible food poisoning.

The local official, however, clarified that he could not blame the caterer because the food was supposed to be eaten for breakfast, not dinner.

A teacher reportedly gave the food to the pupils because dinner was served late.

“They have separate food for dinner. They were not supposed to eat the food served in the morning as it would already have been contaminated,” Piñol said.

He said 14 of the 17 pupils who were given immediate medical attention were already safe and were out of the M’lang District Hospital.

But the three others were still confined due to weakness and continuing loose bowel movement.

Thousands of Grade 4 and 5 pupils from public schools in M’lang had gathered at the M’lang Pilot Elementary School for a three-day Summer Peace Camp initiated by the Cotabato provincial government.

Piñol ordered the town’s health official to closely monitor the health condition of the three pupils who were still in the hospital.