Hanoi - More than 100 children at a kindergarten fell ill of food poisoning after eating a school snack in northern Vietnam, an official said Wednesday. The children, ages three to five years old, reported stomachaches, nausea, dizziness and difficulty breathing after they were fed with rice pies Tuesday at a boarding kindergarten in Vinh Lai commune in Phu Tho province, 80 kilometers north-west of Hanoi.
"Only 12 of them who had the worst symptoms had to be hospitalized, and all of them were discharged on the same day," said Nguyen Anh Tuan with the commune's medical station.
The kindergarten prepared lunch for more than 200 children on Tuesday with rice, vegetables, pork and tofu, but they did not have any abnormal symptoms until they were fed the snack of rice pies three hours after lunch, according to Tuan.
Food safety has recently become a big concern in Vietnam following the cancer-causing substance was detected in soy sauce and the appearance of the "blue ear" disease in pigs.
Earlier this month, Vietnam fired a health official for failing to disclose the information about the presence of 3-MCPD, a cancer causing substance, in soy sauces made by at least seven local manufacturers.
