The Department of Health is dispensing 80 environmental health inspectors to search for “chemical agents” believed to be responsible for a rash of apparent food poisoning cases countrywide, the latest incidents being reported this week in KwaZulu-Natal where 43 pupils fell ill after allegedly eating chips sold by a local vendor.
The provincial Departments of Education and Health are working with police to find out what caused the pupils – from Ngaqa Primary School in Mtubatuba – to get sick, reports TimesLIVE.
Provincial Education spokesperson Muzi Mhlambi said the pupils complained of severe stomach aches and started vomiting after apparently eating the snacks sold by two vendors outside the school.
The children were taken to a local clinic but 21 were moved to Hlabisa Hospital for specialised care, and the Health Department is awaiting a medical report.
Municipal authorities later conducted an informal raid at a supermarket near the school and allegedly found several expired items on the shelves, including snacks, juice and medication.
This comes in the wake of several deaths and the hospitalisation of pupils in suspected food poisoning incidents nationally.
The deaths of six children who had consumed snacks allegedly bought from a spaza shop in Naledi, Soweto, led to residents looting and forcing the closure of several shops in the area. As yet, there has been no medical report detailing the cause of the deaths.
In Bronkhorstspruit, 25 pupils received medical attention after allegedly eating snacks bought from a street vendor near their school.
And last week, 47 children were treated for food poisoning after consuming alleged expired chocolates in Hammanskraal.
Foreign-owned spaza shops are being blamed by some communities, despite there being no evidence, and national Health Department Spokesperson Foster Mohale said that health officials and police were working “around the clock to unravel this mystery”, reports News24.
“Based on consultations with various organisations, it is believed we are dealing with a chemical agent, which must be identified as a matter of urgency.”
Mohale said the “army of 80 environmental inspectors” had been “undergoing training” and was to start this past Monday.
Professor Pieter Gouws of Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Food Safety previously said that while it was possible, it was highly improbable that chips bought from a spaza shop had caused any of the deaths, and unlikely that expired chocolate could result in death.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Pesticides may have a role in Gauteng ‘food poisonings’
Food poisoning kills 10 Gauteng children this year
DoH launches probe into noodles following deaths of 5 children