On the afternoon of July 28, Mr. Le Khac Phuc - Vice Chairman of Nam Ban Lam Ha Commune People's Committee (Lam Dong province) said that he had requested temporary suspension of operations for the banh mi business of Ms. Tran Thi Nguyet (Hai Ba Trung village) to serve the investigation of a suspected food poisoning case occurring in the area.
According to functional agencies, up to now, 84 cases of suspected food poisoning have been recorded after eating bread at this establishment.
Many patients are being treated at Lam Dong General Hospital and Lam Ha Regional Medical Center. Currently, the health of the patients is basically stable, no critical cases have been recorded.
Nam Ban Lam Ha Commune People's Committee has directed functional units to urgently investigate epidemiology, trace food origins, statistics of people who have used bread and strengthen propaganda to help people proactively monitor their health.
According to the notice of Nam Ban Lam Ha Commune People's Committee, Ms. Tran Thi Nguyet's establishment must stop all processing and trading activities of bread and food servings until there is a conclusion from a competent authority, fully remedy the existing problems (if any) and be certified to be eligible to resume operations according to regulations.
Initial investigation results show that the establishment is not registered for business, and does not have a Certificate of eligibility for food safety.
Both people directly processing and doing business do not have health certificates and have not been trained in food safety knowledge according to regulations.
The ingredients for making bread include bread, grilled meat, pate, egg sauce, meat sauce, pork sausage, cucumber, omelet and pickled radish.
In which, some ingredients are purchased from business households in the area, while grilled meat, pate, sauces and pickled radishes are self-processed by the facility owner.
Notably, all food ingredients do not have invoices or documents proving their origin. The water used for processing is taken from dug wells and has not been quality tested.
Functional agencies have taken 7 food samples including bread, grilled meat, pate, egg sauce, meat sauce, pork sausage, cucumber and pickled radish to send to the Tay Nguyen Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for testing and determining the cause of the incident.
Through epidemiological investigation, all hospitalizations have a common point of using bread at the above facility.
Patients showed symptoms of abdominal pain, frequent diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and fever; initially diagnosed with bacterial intestinal infection, food poisoning monitoring.
Nam Ban Lam Ha Commune People's Committee said it will continue to direct functional forces to investigate, trace the origin of food, inspect food safety assurance conditions of establishments and strictly handle violations (if any).
At the same time, the health sector continues to monitor the health of related cases, and update the investigation results when there are new developments.
