CONTAMINATED? The Department of Education (DepEd) 7 (Central Visayas) has temporarily suspended the milk feeding program in public schools in southern Negros Oriental due to an alleged food poisoning incident on May 20, 2022. DepEd and health authorities are awaiting the results of laboratory tests on samples of the milk (in photo) that downed more than 200 students and more than 20 adults who consumed it. (PNA file photo courtesy of the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office)
DUMAGUETE CITY – The head of the Department of Education (DepEd) 7 (Central Visayas) has ordered the suspension of the milk feeding program in some public schools in southern Negros Oriental due to the suspected food poisoning incident last month.
Dr. Salustiano Jimenez, DepEd-7 director, said in a phone interview on Friday the suspension is only temporary as they await the results of a laboratory test on samples of the “contaminated” milk distributed in Sta. Catalina town.
“I have directed the Negros Oriental DepEd division superintendent to suspend the feeding program only in the schools in the south, whose supplier of milk is the same source of the supposed contaminated milk in question,” Jimenez said.
Another supplier is providing the milk requirements for public schools in the north of the province, thus the feeding program will continue, he said.
The bottled fresh milk, distributed in different public schools in Sta. Catalina on May 20 under the DepEd’s School-Based Feeding Program, resulted in more than 200 learners and more than 20 adult family members coming down with such symptoms as diarrhea and vomiting.
Many of the affected individuals were admitted to hospitals and health centers in nearby Bayawan City and Sta. Catalina.
Jimenez said he has also coordinated with the National Dairy Authority, the primary agency in the implementation of the milk feeding program, regarding the incident.
He assured that DepEd would undertake measures to ensure that the incident would not be repeated.
The supplier of the fresh milk in question has pledged to provide financial assistance to the learners who were admitted to hospitals, he added. (PNA)
