Wednesday, March 4, 2009
CEBU CITY -- Nine nursing students and a teacher were rushed to Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) Tuesday dawn after complaining of vomiting and diarrhea.
The incident happened hours after the students and the teacher reportedly ate pizza with stale meat.Alberto's Pizza along B. Rodriguez St. in this city may face temporary closure until it can comply with all requirements and correct the deficiencies that sanitary inspectors saw during their initial investigation Tuesday morning.
Its four other branches in this city -- Colon, Pelaez St., Paseo in Mabolo and M. Velez St. -- will be inspected Wednesday.
Six of the food poisoning victims remain confined at the city hospital as of 7:30 p.m. Tuesday but are already in stable condition, said Durinda Macasocol, chief of the City Epidemiology Statistics and Surveillance Unit of the City Health Department (CHD).
The food poisoning victims who were admitted at CCMC are Caryl Loquero, 20; Junersa Abellanosa, 21; Fatima Retchel Tacoloy, 22; and Grace May Ann Domingo, 21, all of Cebu City.
Ratsen Rey Dejos, 22, of Minglanilla and Jobelle Jimenez, 22, of Talisay City were also admitted.
Their two classmates and clinical instructor were released immediately after examination at the Outpatient Department.
CHD's sanitary inspectors said the food poisoning could be blamed on the spoiled ground beef on the pizza that the students ordered and ate at the pizza parlor past 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Three hours later, the students and their clinical instructor started to feel stomach pains, and were already vomiting and having diarrhea.
"Our sanitary inspectors already visited the pizzeria and they saw several discrepancies in terms of sanitation. The initial finding is that the beef was already spoiled, and even the owner admitted that, but it still has to be confirmed by lab tests. Most probably, we will recommend temporary closure until they can comply with the requirements," Macasocol said in a phone interview.
"Naay set sa beef namo na nadaot but we cannot tell for sure if that is really the cause of their illness. We already checked with CCMC and they said the stool exam is negative. We will wait for the results of the lab test and the official results from the CHD before we release any comment," Syne Kiamko, owner of the pizzeria, told Sun.Star Cebu.
Aside from having an unsanitary working area in the kitchen, the pizzeria known for its affordable thin crust pizzas also had unsanitary storage areas for their food supplies, the inspectors reported.
They also observed the poor food handling by its food attendants, who also did not have health cards issued by the CHD.
Another patient was reportedly rushed to Velez General Hospital Tuesday after eating Alberto's Pizza, but Kiamko said they are still verifying the information.
He declined from commenting further on the incident when interviewed Tuesday night, but said they will wait for the results of the laboratory exams.
The CHD took food samples Tuesday and had them examined. The results are expected to be released Wednesday.
City Councilor Gerardo Carillo, chairman of the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council (CCDCC), said the other branches of Alberto's Pizza will also be inspected Wednesday since all their food supplies come from one commissary.(LCR/Sun.Star Cebu)
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