Police investigate food safety violations in Nha Trang after school student's death

By Bui Toan   November 23, 2022 | 04:12 pm PT
Police investigate food safety violations in Nha Trang after school student's death
A woman takes care of her son, one of the students suffering food poisoning after lunch at Ischool in Nha Trang, at a local hospital, November 21, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Bui Toan
Khanh Hoa police are investigating violations of food safety and hygiene laws after food poisoning hospitalized more than 600 students and killed one at a Nha Trang school.

The police said Wednesday that they were looking at charges of "offenses against regulations of law on food safety and hygiene."

After the food poisoning incident at the Ischool in Nha Trang last week, authorities asked the local Department of Health to instruct hospitals and medical facilities to compile data and provide information to facilitate investigations.

The Nha Trang medical ward said the caterer responsible for supplying food to the school was owned by 40-year-old Bui Phuc Lam, a local resident. Lam also ran a beverage stall at the Ischool.

Lam was granted his business license in 2015 by the Nha Trang finance and planning department. His establishment was also certified by the Nha Trang medical ward as satisfying food safety standards for the third time on October 19.

As many as 662 students were admitted to different medical facilities after having lunch served by their school last Friday. A 6-year-old boy died Sunday as he was being taken to a HCMC hospital.

As of Tuesday, 137 students were still in hospital, down 74 from Monday. The Khanh Hoa Province Health Department had said there was no severely ill case among them.

The Pasteur Institute Nha Trang said that Salmonella, bacillus cereus and E.Coli bacteria were found in the fried chicken wings served at the school on Friday. Bacillus cereus was also found in the fish sauce, the institute said.

This was the most severe school food poisoning case in Vietnam to date, according to Cao Van Trung, deputy head of the poison monitoring and communications department under the Ministry of Health.

 
 
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