TANDAG CITY —Up to 1,350 elementary and high school students fell ill after eating durian-flavored candy, Surigao del Sur provincial health officials said on Saturday.
Surigao del Sur Provincial Health Officer Dr. Jerry Irrizari said the students were treated in hospitals in nine towns overnight after they complained of stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting and headaches on Friday.
As of Saturday, 250 remained in hospital but they were expected to be discharged later in the day, said Surigao del Sur Gov. Johnny Pimentel.
emergency room in Tandag City after they were poisoned by
expired durian candy. ALVIN GUANZON
He said nine men and women who sold the sweets from a van while the children were on their lunch break have been arrested and the police are investigating whether the sweets were expired or were deliberately laced with poison.
“The suspects had a plan to sell only to school children. They went around nine towns the whole day selling candies,” he said as the group denied that they meant to poison the children.
Pimentel said police were still trying to establish why the group had travelled some 300 kilometers from their home province to sell the sweets.
At the same time, Irrizari clarified there were no fatalities from the poisoning incident involving the candy he identified as Wendy’s Durian Candy.
Irrizari corrected the erroneous information about a fatality that was released by the administrative officer of the Surigao del Sur Health Office.
Irrizari said that most of the students downed by the candy were treated at the Adela Serra Ty Medical Center here in Tandag, the capital city of the province.
Irrizari identified the candy manufacturer of the candy as Wendy’s Delicacy whose factory is in Maa-Davao City. The owners of the factory have already been identified.
Five hundred twenty eight (528) victims of food poisoning were confined or admitted while others treated as out-patients at Adela Serra Ty Medical Center alone, one of only three big government hospitals in Caraga Region, located here in Tandag City.
Physicians said the students suffered acute gastro-enteritis with signs of dehydration secondary to food poisoning.
“The bacteria that caused the illness was “Staphylococcus” and was probably due to the expiration of the durian candy that caused its contamination,” says Dr. Ponciano Limcangco, the hospital director.