Girl dies from food poisoning; 159 schoolmates got affected

[Lite Beer]

Girl dies from food poisoning; 159 schoolmates got affected
The Sunday Nation

CHIANG RAI: -- A Hmong boarding school student died from food poising while 159 other students are recovering in Chiang Rai's Mae Fa Luang district, a state official said yesterday.

The incident took place on Tuesday at Ban Hmong Kao Lang School after the students were given boxes of chicken on oily rice as part of a merit-making ceremony.

Seventeen of the students had to go to hospital. A 12-year-old girl was pronounced dead early on Friday morning.

Mae Fah Luang district chief Worayan Boonnarat said 12 students remained in hospital yesterday - two in a critical condition.

He said he had instructed officials to investigate and find preventative measures to reduce the risk of something like this happening again.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Girl-dies-from-food-poisoning;-159-schoolmates-got-30238369.html

-- The Nation 2014-07-13

[96tehtarp]

RIP poor sweet girl.

Hopefully the other 159 will be OK and have a full recovery.

[doremifasol]

Rest In Peace little girl.

These things shouldn't be happening,

I am so sorry

[Seastallion]

I hope this is not a case of, "Oh, it's only those minority kids, we don't have to worry about hygiene or food safety"

[hidavey]

Thai people need to learn more about food safety, I don't know how some people don't get sick when I see raw meat hanging for the whole day?

[Travel Dude]

Those who offered the food should be criminally prosecuted.

How can they offer food that is not prepared under hygienic conditions?

Scandalous!

My feelings are with the family and friends of the young deceased girl and all those fighting for their life in hospital

[keestha]

Thai people need to learn more about food safety, I don't know how some people don't get sick when I see raw meat hanging for the whole day?

Thai people + long term expats who went native up to a certain degree will have a higher resistance level than tourists from western countries. Likewise: Citizens of oh so clean Singapore frequently get problems when holidaying in neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia.

Thai families often tend to store ready cooked food in a cupboard instead of in the fridge where it will dry out.

Don't want to deny though that the person responsible for serving this food to these children, obviously didn't know what he/she was doing. One simple trick if you are not sure about meat, is to put a little bit of it in front of a cat. If the cat walks away after briefly sniffing, it is not good anymore.

[Oziex1]

Thai people need to learn more about food safety, I don't know how some people don't get sick when I see raw meat hanging for the whole day?

Have you seen the customers touch each and every piece of BBQ'd chicken at the food stalls! What's that about they think it's ripe fruit or what.

[tomyummer]

It may not have been the chicken. It was probably bad rice or the oil they mentioned. Let's see with more findings. What a shame.

[palaver]

Those who offered the food should be criminally prosecuted.

How can they offer food that is not prepared under hygienic conditions?

Scandalous!

My feelings are with the family and friends of the young deceased girl and all those fighting for their life in hospital

You seem to imply this does not happen anywhere else in the world?

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/5/5/99-0502_article

To better quantify the impact of foodborne diseases on health in the United States, we compiled and analyzed information from multiple surveillance systems and other sources. We estimate that foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. Known pathogens account for an estimated 14 million illnesses, 60,000 hospitalizations, and 1,800 deaths. Three pathogens, Salmonella, Listeria, and Toxoplasma, are responsible for 1,500 deaths each year, more than 75% of those caused by known pathogens, while unknown agents account for the remaining 62 million illnesses, 265,000 hospitalizations, and 3,200 deaths. Overall, foodborne diseases appear to cause more illnesses but fewer deaths than previously estimated.

[Thai at Heart]

Must be salmonella or cross contamination something. Poor preparation . and I mean really really poor preparation.

[SOMeTOM]

Have you seen the customers touch each and every piece of BBQ'd chicken at the food stalls! What's that about they think it's ripe fruit or what.

Possibly just a way to take away that unpleasant smell with a different one, especially after they have cleaned up their lower back ends bare hand or picking up between their filthy toes after a whole day going shoeless.....

[tomross46]

Was this intentional? Was it planned?

[crazykopite]

159 taken down with food poisoning and the guy van only state " preventative measures " bet if it were pone of there kids they would not be saying that would not be surprised if the chicken had been sat in the sun all day long. Go to school and end up dead or in hospital is a disgrace someone's head needs to be put on the chopping block for such negligence .

[Deacon Bell]

159 courses of antibiotics to the rescue.

[kriswillems]

Doesn't look like Salmonella to me. They died too quickly for that. I think it's more likely some kind of pesticide or poison was mixed with the food.

The problem is often that cleaning products, pesticides and cooking oil are kept in unlabeled containers at the same location.

It would be better if schools would stop buying unlabeled bulk containers.

Edited July 13, 2014 by kriswillems

[Thai at Heart]

Doesn't look like Salmonella to me. They died too quickly for that. I think it's more likely some kind of pesticide or poison was mixed with the food.

The problem is often that cleaning products, pesticides and cooking oil are kept in unlabeled containers at the same location.

It would be better if schools would stop buying unlabeled bulk containers.

Well no amount of preparation is going fix a poisoning.

[Lunghans]

Thai people need to learn more about food safety, I don't know how some people don't get sick when I see raw meat hanging for the whole day?

Just have a better look a the raw meat, it was probably slaughtered this morning because it did not have any flies on it, it is too fresh.

Flies are only attracted to meat that is starting to decompose already. Hang up a piece of meat butchered in a western country it will immediately attract flies.

This meat has been butchered 3 to 4 days ago, transported to probably 2 to 3 different cooling cells before it is packed for the supermarket, there it says on the package it was packed on day xx and has to be consumed before day xx. I never had any problems with meat bought on the market here, did have problems in Europe.

[96tehtarp]

It may not have been the chicken. It was probably bad rice or the oil they mentioned. Let's see with more findings. What a shame.

True.

I hope we get more findings. In these cases it is usually some kind of poison contamination in the food, rather than simply poor hygiene. Cooked chicken holds quite safely for a long time, even at tropical temperatures.

In the below two cases it was poison contamination that was suspected. It doesn't only happen in Thailand and it's usually not due to dirty hands and typical third world hygiene.

July 18, 2013: 22 students die from poisoned lunches. (India).

Jan 29, 2014: Food poisoning: 200 students taken ill (Malaysia).

[LUSHGOAT]

This seems to ring a bell didnt some other people die there a while ago from food poisoning maybe my brain is working over time but it seem to there is a serial killer loose up there. Check it out those in charge see if there is a person or persons who worked in that hotel where the people died before. Smell fishy to me. Rip to that poor little girl and a speedy recovery to all the others

[vogie]

Thai people need to learn more about food safety, I don't know how some people don't get sick when I see raw meat hanging for the whole day?

Thai people + long term expats who went native up to a certain degree will have a higher resistance level than tourists from western countries. Likewise: Citizens of oh so clean Singapore frequently get problems when holidaying in neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia.

Thai families often tend to store ready cooked food in a cupboard instead of in the fridge where it will dry out.

Don't want to deny though that the person responsible for serving this food to these children, obviously didn't know what he/she was doing. One simple trick if you are not sure about meat, is to put a little bit of it in front of a cat. If the cat walks away after briefly sniffing, it is not good anymore.

Do not try this trick with dogs, you may lose your fingers

[seancbk]

It may not have been the chicken. It was probably bad rice or the oil they mentioned. Let's see with more findings. What a shame.

You are probably right.

The most likely cause was the rice.

Cooked rice that is left out is a very fertile breeding ground for Bacillus Cereas, which can be fatal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_cereus

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/the-foods-most-likely-to-give-you-food-poisoning/story-fneuz8zj-1226754925899

[empireboy]

What a needless tragedy. My sincere condolences to the famiy

[oldsailor35]

Thai people need to learn more about food safety, I don't know how some people don't get sick when I see raw meat hanging for the whole day?

Have you seen the customers touch each and every piece of BBQ'd chicken at the food stalls! What's that about they think it's ripe fruit or what.

See the same at Makro, where a person goes from chicken to pork sorting it over with bare hands and then dips hands in the prawn water to wash off.......YUK ! some Thai's have very dirty habits with meat. But nobody really cares.

[oldsailor35]

It may not have been the chicken. It was probably bad rice or the oil they mentioned. Let's see with more findings. What a shame.

You are probably right.

The most likely cause was the rice.

Cooked rice that is left out is a very fertile breeding ground for Bacillus Cereas, which can be fatal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_cereus

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/the-foods-most-likely-to-give-you-food-poisoning/story-fneuz8zj-1226754925899

Yes Rice is just about the most dangerous.

[Luk Mhee]

He had instructed officials to investigate and find preventative measures to reduce the risk of something like this happening again.

Why do we always have to wait for a tragedy to happen before preventative measures are taken, we are talking about a family who lost a child and over a hundred who ended up in hospital? To simply say that the district chief says that an investigation and preventative measures should be done is simply not good enough, has the life of a child have no value anymore? Would you accept this, if it were your child?

[jacko45k]

Those who offered the food should be criminally prosecuted.

How can they offer food that is not prepared under hygienic conditions?

Scandalous!

My feelings are with the family and friends of the young deceased girl and all those fighting for their life in hospital

You seem to imply this does not happen anywhere else in the world?

You apparently see something I cannot!

Someone dying and many sick because of a form of negligence would cause a stir anywhere.

And likely bring about criminal prosecution and many civil actions .........

Yes it can and does happen in other places, he did not say it didn't, nor imply it.

[wabothai]

Remember this is not the west, where foodpoisoning also happens.

[Bpuumike]

Thai people need to learn more about food safety, I don't know how some people don't get sick when I see raw meat hanging for the whole day?

That's very true. While my wife is scrupulously clean she has no understanding of bacteria. I had to teach her food hygiene from scratch; storing cooked food, freezing and defrosting, etc.

RIP to the unfortunate girl who would have died in some pain and a speedy recovery to the others,

[joshstiles]

most likely ....it's the chicken