28 primary school students in Thai Binh were poisoned after a Mid-Autumn Festival party.

On the evening of September 29, a representative of the Food Safety and Hygiene Department of Thai Binh province said that after eating cakes in class, 28 fourth-grade students of Tien Hai Town Primary School had symptoms of poisoning such as nausea, dizziness, and diarrhea.

According to the report of the Food Safety and Hygiene Department of Thai Binh province, at 4:00 p.m. on September 28, the unit received a report from the Tien Hai District Medical Center about food poisoning in a 4th grade class at Tien Hai Town Primary School.

After investigation and verification, the Food Safety and Hygiene Department determined that at around 10:20 a.m. on September 28, the class organized a Mid-Autumn Festival party for 37 students.

The food used in the party included 2 salted egg sponge cakes ordered from a cake shop in An Ninh commune (Tien Hai district). Of these, 28 students ate them, 9 students did not.

At about 11:20 a.m. the same day, a student appeared to have symptoms of stomach ache, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever.

By 2:42 p.m., 28 students had symptoms of food poisoning, of which 25 students had to be hospitalized at Tien Hai General Hospital, and 3 students with mild symptoms were monitored at home.

The Food Safety and Hygiene Department of Thai Binh province coordinated with the Medical Center and the Tien Hai District Medical Office to investigate the cake production facility and collect information from students being treated at the hospital.

During the investigation, authorities collected food samples from the bakery and samples of the poisoned students and sent them to the National Institute for Food Safety Control for testing.

According to the assessment of the Department of Food Safety and Hygiene of Thai Binh province, the food identified as the cause of poisoning was salted egg sponge cake, the cause is suspected to be microorganisms.

The Food Safety and Hygiene Department continues to coordinate with functional units to determine the cause of food poisoning, review the law violations of the establishments that caused food poisoning, and recommend handling according to regulations.

According to the representative of the Department, by the afternoon of September 29, the health of 25 students being treated at the hospital had basically stabilized.