Fiesta goers who fell ill after eating buko pandan salad are now being treated at the Minglanilla District Hospital. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
A buko pandan salad served during a fiesta celebration had allegedly caused food poisoning that victimized 26 adults and 18 minors, including a 3-year-old girl, in Sitio Kapanang, Barangay Naalad, Naga City in southern Cebu.
Sitio Kapanang celebrated its fiesta last Saturday in honor of its patron saint San Isidro Labrador.
Initial investigation showed that most of the victims allegedly had the salad in the residence of barangay tanod Gemorito Yanong, Sr.
Some victims ate the fruit salad allegedly brought by Yanong’s daughter Mylene, according to City Councilor Carmelino Cruz Jr.
Mylene Yanong told CDN that they didn’t check the expiration date of the ingredients she had bought in a supermarket in Naga City on Friday. They made the salad on Saturday morning and served it at noon. But since they had no refrigerator at home, they placed the dessert in an ice bucket with blocks of ice in it.
“OK ra man ang salad pagtilaw nako ug paghuman og timpla (The salad was okay when I tasted it after I finished making it),” she said.
Yanong said she did not expect food poisoning to happen.
Cruz, who is the chairman of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said the patients were confined at the Minglanilla District Hospital after eating the buco pandan.
Most of the victims came from Barangays West Poblacion, Colon and Naalad. Seven of them came from Barangay Calamba in Cebu City.
One of the victims, 25-year-old Elvie Raut, said she ate the salad brought by Mylene at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Raut told Cebu Daily News that she started to feel stomach pains on Sunday dawn.
“Onse mi nga gidad-an og pagkaon pero pito ra mi ang nakakaon ug naglain ang tiyan (Eleven of us were given salad but only seven ate it and experienced stomach upset),” she said.
City of Naga Health officer Andres Gestopa said Naalad Barangay Captain Sandra Cañalita personally brought the leftover to the city health office yesterday.
Teresita Sayson, chief nurse of Minglanilla District Hospital, said initial findings of their doctor revealed that the victims suffered food poisoning from the buko pandan salad.
The victims were given intravenous fluids and were under observation as of 1 p.m. yesterday.
Sayson said the patients were required to submit their stool samples for laboratory testing.
Mayor Valdemar Chiong sent social workers to the Minglanilla District Hospital to assist the needs of the patients.
Aside from the P20,000 standby fund, Chiong also sent medicine supplies including dextrose and even beds to the district hospital.