On February 16, the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health) sent a document to the Ca Mau Department of Health regarding the suspected food poisoning incident that occurred in Dat Moi and Tan An communes.
According to initial information, on February 14, some people after eating seafood such as clams, snails, sam... showed symptoms of fatigue, abdominal pain, nausea, numb lips, numb tongue and were taken to Nam Can General Hospital for emergency treatment.
Faced with the above situation, the Food Safety Department requested the Ca Mau Provincial Department of Health to direct the Provincial Sub-Department of Food Safety to closely coordinate with Nam Can General Hospital to focus on treating patients, closely monitor health developments, and ensure that dangerous complications to life do not occur. If necessary, specialized units must connect consultations with upper-level hospitals to provide timely professional support.
Along with that, the Food Safety Department requested Dat Moi commune health station and Tan An commune health station to urgently investigate the incident, determine the cause of poisoning; strengthen monitoring, early detection and medical support for similar suspected poisoning cases that may arise in the community.
According to a report from Nam Can General Hospital, by the afternoon of February 16, the unit was monitoring and treating 3 patients suspected of poisoning after having dinner at a snail restaurant. The patients include T.T. T. (15 years old), L.T. T. N. (21 years old) and N.M. H. (18 years old, all residing in Dat Moi commune), admitted to the hospital in a state of fatigue, vomiting, and tongue numbness. Doctors diagnosed the patients with poisoning from other fish, snails and monitored for sam poisoning.
Through initial verification, at about 8 pm on February 14, the three patients above had dinner at a snail restaurant in Nam Can commune with dishes such as fragrant snails with salted egg sauce, grilled purslane, butter-stir-fried snails. Not long after the meal, symptoms of poisoning appeared, forcing family members to take the patients to a medical facility for emergency treatment.
According to the Ministry of Health, sea urchins and sea urchins belong to the group of urchins (Xiphosuridae), living in coastal areas. Sea urchins are commonly exploited for food and so far no deaths have been recorded from eating urchins. Meanwhile, sea urchins are smaller in shape, do not live in pairs and contain tetrodotoxin - a very potent neurotoxin, which is not destroyed when cooked normally and there is currently no specific antidote.
The Food Safety Department recommends that people absolutely do not use seaweed as food; do not eat strange seafood of unknown origin or processing method. When signs of suspected poisoning appear such as numbness in the lips, tongue, limbs, vomiting, abdominal pain, it is necessary to quickly go to the nearest medical facility for emergency treatment and timely treatment.
The Department of Health of Ca Mau province is requested to strengthen inspection and supervision of food safety for food production, business, and processing establishments, especially small eateries and street food during Tet and the 2026 Spring festival season; report the investigation results and developments of the case to the Food Safety Department as prescribed.
