Poisoned lunch - 70 schoolkids in hospital after eating food from Pattaya market

[rooster59]

Poisoned lunch - 70 schoolkids in hospital after eating food from Pattaya market

 

Image: Daily News

 

Bang Lamung Hospital in the Pattaya area was overwhelmed yesterday as 70 primary school children were taken to hospital after eating lunch.

 

They had all consumed vegetarian food that was bought at a Pattaya market, reported Daily News.

 

On the menu was a mushroom soup and spicy boiled egg salad.

 

District chief Naris Niramaiwong ordered an immediate investigation into where the food came from and its preparation.

 

Students in grades P4 - P6 started suffering from serious diarrhea and vomiting after lunch at Wat Nong Ket Yai school. 

 

Ten ambulances ferried the children to hospital where there were not enough beds to cope. 

 

School director Noppawan Khonseu said there were 669 pupils at the school. Her own staff prepared the vegetarian menu for the day from ingredients brought in by a parent or parents.

 

Daily News said the ingredients were purchased at a Pattaya market.

 

Some of the children showed improvement and were allowed to go home later with parents.

 

Source: Daily News

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-06-02

[mikebell]

Vegetables grown in fertiliser and sprayed with weedkiller?  What could go wrong?

[RichardColeman]

Not a new sausage seller in this market is there ? 

[Darcula]

48 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

On the menu was a mushroom soup and spicy boiled egg salad.

 

They're never gonna serve mushrooms and salad again. Children win.

[bluesofa]

While sitting in the packed canteen eating lunch, one of the children was heard to say, "There's not mushroom in here."

 

[greenbottle555]

Quote

School director Noppawan Khonseu said there were 669 pupils at the school. Her own staff prepared the vegetarian menu for the day from ingredients brought in by a parent or parents.

 

So basically a potluck, where people were bringing in their own food. I think what further made it worse was that it may have been non-Thai food. Thai's cook Thai food 99.9% or higher ok without food poisoning (exclude tourist restaraunts serving Thai food). It's when they cook with ingredients that they are not familiar with, and not trained in with regards to overall food safety, that things go wrong. Very wrong sometimes. Was a guy on the pattaya forum website that lost all of his small intestines by eating shrimp from the supermarket in the bottom floor of Tukcom.

 

 

Also, speaking of potlucks, going off topic here a bit... there was a chilli/Super bowl themed potluck at my office (Cube farm) in America a few months ago. I avoided that because you have all these people cooking chilli who have no clue how to. I barely knew these people so lol I'm not going to eat their home creations. They tried to play the guilt card to get me to go there like a pinky promise kind of thing when the organizer stopped my cubicle. Heh I don't really miss working in America sometimes. Also, that place had free food all day at the cafeteria prepared by chefs so why would I eat their chilli and risk an upset stomach?

[mok199]

my experience with food poisoning is 6-8 hours after consuming, I'm confused with the timeline here..lunch is noon and these kids became ill and still in class...1-3 hours after consuming the food???

[nasa123]

[Familyonthemove]

5 minutes ago, mok199 said:

my experience with food poisoning is 6-8 hours after consuming, I'm confused with the timeline here..lunch is noon and these kids became ill and still in class...1-3 hours after consuming the food???

Possibly Staphylococcus - food handler at the market with an infected cut on hand, food left sitting in the warm?  2-6 hours onset, vomiting is usual symptom.  Or chemical contamination/adulteration - can be minutes after eating when vomiting starts.  Plus a bit of mass hysteria to confuse the results.   Hope they have food samples left over to send to a lab.

[buick]

10 minutes ago, mok199 said:

my experience with food poisoning is 6-8 hours after consuming, I'm confused with the timeline here..lunch is noon and these kids became ill and still in class...1-3 hours after consuming the food???

i ate some pasta with tomato sauce one night for dinner.  the tomato sauce jar had been opened nearly six months prior (partially used and placed in the refrigerator).  i had a miscommunication when i asked how old it was, etc....  i was on the toilet less than 30 minutes later.  i've also had issues with eating eggs past their expiry date (just a day past expiry can mess me up !!!) and leftover chicken.  each hits me before the 3 hr mark.  suffice to say, my stomach is sensitive !!!!

[CanuckThai]

Sad to hear, but not surprising really.  Food safety and cleanliness are not "hot subjects" for Thais. 

 

Thais have a relatively well seasoned gut for......"questionable" foodstuffs.  Must have been a nasty bacteria (or whatever it was), and easy to trace if 70+ people were involved. 

[mok199]

23 minutes ago, Familyonthemove said:

Possibly Staphylococcus - food handler at the market with an infected cut on hand, food left sitting in the warm?  2-6 hours onset, vomiting is usual symptom.  Or chemical contamination/adulteration - can be minutes after eating when vomiting starts.  Plus a bit of mass hysteria to confuse the results.   Hope they have food samples left over to send to a lab.

I take this issue very seriously as I have a 4yr old in a private school, we make his lunch fresh, each morning and last week were told to stop ,as it was ''against policy ''.(schools wanting complete control ,obedience and uniformity) ..seriously!!!! my wife and I agreed to disregard the schools request ,as we have seen the kitchen and I would not eat their..why should my child..

[Ks45672]

2 minutes ago, mok199 said:

I take this issue very seriously as I have a 4yr old in a private school, we make his lunch fresh, each morning and last week were told to stop ,as it was ''against policy ''.(schools wanting complete control ,obedience and uniformity) ..seriously!!!! my wife and I agreed to disregard the schools request ,as we have seen the kitchen and I would not eat their..why should my child..

I would change school

[mok199]

16 minutes ago, Ks45672 said:

I would change school

we love the school and teachers,and their kitchen is not too too bad, really its just me and my standards, I am a clean freek ,and yes living in Thailand has its daily challenges...but .this issue is more than the quality of food,it is about freedom to speak up in Thailand , be different and say..''i pay taxes and school tuition.i as a foringer have rights '' ....Outnumbered in thailand

Edited June 2, 2018 by mok199
speliings

[Ks45672]

1 minute ago, mok199 said:

we love the school and teachers, really its just me and my standards, I am a clean freek and border,''germphobe'' ,and yes living in Thailand has its daily challenges...but this issue is more than the quality of food,it is about freedom to speak up in Thailand and say..''i pay taxes and school tuition.i have rights ''...but alas ....outnumbered in thailand

You should take your children to be educated in the West

It's borderline selfish to force the "Thai education" system on any child

 

[mercman24]

obviously someone picked the wrong mushrooms

[Megasin1]

or someone has been skimming !!

[scorecard]

6 hours ago, greenbottle555 said:

 

So basically a potluck, where people were bringing in their own food. I think what further made it worse was that it may have been non-Thai food. Thai's cook Thai food 99.9% or higher ok without food poisoning (exclude tourist restaraunts serving Thai food). It's when they cook with ingredients that they are not familiar with, and not trained in with regards to overall food safety, that things go wrong. Very wrong sometimes. Was a guy on the pattaya forum website that lost all of his small intestines by eating shrimp from the supermarket in the bottom floor of Tukcom.

 

 

Also, speaking of potlucks, going off topic here a bit... there was a chilli/Super bowl themed potluck at my office (Cube farm) in America a few months ago. I avoided that because you have all these people cooking chilli who have no clue how to. I barely knew these people so lol I'm not going to eat their home creations. They tried to play the guilt card to get me to go there like a pinky promise kind of thing when the organizer stopped my cubicle. Heh I don't really miss working in America sometimes. Also, that place had free food all day at the cafeteria prepared by chefs so why would I eat their chilli and risk an upset stomach?

 

" and not trained in with regards to overall food safety, "

 

Is there such training?

 

 

 

 

[The manic]

5 hours ago, mok199 said:

my experience with food poisoning is 6-8 hours after consuming, I'm confused with the timeline here..lunch is noon and these kids became ill and still in class...1-3 hours after consuming the food???

It depends on the potency of the bacteria. It can hit within seconds, minutes or hours..But which Pattyaya market? There are hundreds

[Captain_Bob]

Reads like another "brake failure" story, tragic but repeated 3rd world careless tale of woe. Same story where I live few years back. Village elder "donates" truckload of raw eggs to primary school for special lunch. Kitchen staff boil the eggs then put them back in the truck for a couple days in blazing sun. Guess what - the whole class with severe food poisoning, diarrhea, vomiting, etc. and not enough beds in local hospital. Live and learn vs. just repeat the same mistakes. Pavlov would be laughing. 

[Lupatria]

Welcome to the kitchen of the world kids. Sorry the food was rotten while left in the blazing sun for a day, as all vendors left the kitchen to attend the 'food hygiene' course.

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, mok199 said:

my experience with food poisoning is 6-8 hours after consuming, I'm confused with the timeline here..lunch is noon and these kids became ill and still in class...1-3 hours after consuming the food???

Thai fast food followed by a fast reaction..

must have been something they all ate together to have the same symptoms in the same time frame not something individually consumed 6-8 hours previously?

Food storage, preparation plus hygiene is always a bit "iffy" in the land of smiles!

[notasmartassknowitallfarag]

There are serious problems with food poisoning in this country. 

I think a goverment education campagin is needed. 

[shy coconut]

8 hours ago, CanuckThai said:

Sad to hear, but not surprising really.  Food safety and cleanliness are not "hot subjects" for Thais. 

 

Thais have a relatively well seasoned gut for......"questionable" foodstuffs.  Must have been a nasty bacteria (or whatever it was), and easy to trace if 70+ people were involved. 

Meanwhile in the USA 5 people sadly die from food poisoning, ecoli apparently, I guess poor

food prep is a problem in the 1st world as well.

 

And, yes , I am fully aware this is the Thai basher forum.....

[mok199]

6 hours ago, Ks45672 said:

You should take your children to be educated in the West

It's borderline selfish to force the "Thai education" system on any child

 

borderline selfish  ''to force''...explain that sir..

[happy chappie]

I bet the food supplier is filling his pants too especially now the ship has hit the fan.could happen anywhere even on a 4 star cruise ship.

[Jeremia Juxtaposed]

11 hours ago, bluesofa said:

While sitting in the packed canteen eating lunch, one of the children was heard to say, "There's not mushroom in here."

 

No problem they ended up sharing stools...

[Media1]

13 hours ago, mikebell said:

Vegetables grown in fertiliser and sprayed with weedkiller?  What could go wrong?

There is 0 policing of this food fiesta. It's a risk. I soak in water and salt on advice from the girl.

[katana]

So the raw ingredients for the food were bought into the school where the meal was cooked?
The resultant food poisoning could also have been caused by improper storage of food at the school, not necessarily spoiled food brought in from the market.

[geriatrickid]

12 hours ago, mok199 said:

my experience with food poisoning is 6-8 hours after consuming, I'm confused with the timeline here..lunch is noon and these kids became ill and still in class...1-3 hours after consuming the food???

Quite possible with some beasties.  I was vomiting with  30 minutes of eating a spicy appetizer onboard a SwissAir flight from Delhi. It was First class too.