Expired choco bars down 18 students in Pampanga

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines —At least 18 students in Mabalacat, Pampanga, were taken to a hospital on Tuesday when they experienced dizziness and stomach ache after eating expired chocolate bars that were sold by one of their classmates.

Leonardo Canlas, principal of the Camachiles National High School, said doctors at the Mabalacat District Hospital discharged the students on Tuesday afternoon after their condition improved.

Canlas said several of them also vomited after eating the chocolate bars, which their classmate sold for P5 each.

Dr. John Harvey Cruz, who attended to the students, said 14 of the students were sent home an hour after they were admitted while the remaining four students were allowed to leave the hospital when their conditions stabilized at 5:30 p.m.

Canlas said he asked the student who sold the chocolate bars “not to feel guilty” about the incident.

“I told him it’s not his fault,” he said, noting that the boy only wanted to make some money to add to his school allowance.

He said school officials traced the chocolate bar supplier, a resident of this city, and passed on this information to the police for investigation.