CAMBODIA – At least 570 Cambodians fell ill after partaking on what authorities believed were contaminated breads filled with meat and vegetables allegedly distributed by NGO World Vision Saturday afternoon.
Most of those who fell ill were children but no one was in serious condition and almost half of them have recovered and returned home, health authorities said.
Siem Reap Provincial Health Chief Kros Sarath confirmed the incident, saying the victims were attending an event for school children at Chhi Kreng district in northwestern Cambodia’s Siem Reap province.
After eating the filled bread, the Cambodians started feeling dizzy and vomited.
“About 570 people, most of them were children, got dizzy and vomited after eating the contaminated bread,” Sarath told the China state-owned Xinhua news agency.
Sarath added that based on preliminary conclusion, it was suspected that the vegetables, especially cucumbers, which were put in the bread, were contaminated with insecticide as a result of failure to properly clean.
He said the provincial health staff arrived at the scene soon after the incident and provided on-site intravenous injections to those ill-fated people.
It was not the first time that contaminated foods have downed people in Cambodia, where food check are rare.
Early this year, at least 25 school children in Cambodia’s Takeo province fell ill after eating fried rice at a food stall near the school.
In October last year, around 283 people, mostly children and females, suffered diarrhea and vomiting after having traditional noodle soup at an engagement party in central Kampong Thom province.
Incidents of food contamination are also not uncommon in Asia. Several years ago, at least 18 school children died after eating snacks contaminated with cyanide in the province of Bohol in the Philippines.