Friday, May 05, 2006
14 Lapu-Lapu folk in food poisoning
CEBU CITY -- Boiled cassava or balanghoy downed 14 residents in Lapu-Lapu City last Wednesday, with some of them taken to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City for severe stomach pains.
The victims, mostly children below 12 years old, are residents of Caubian island, a barangay east of Cebu and about one hour and 30 minutes by boat from Mactan island.
Fourteen-year-old Regan Cabanday said they got the root crop from nearby Caubian Dako early Wednesday morning and cooked it and ate it at noontime.
At 6 p.m., they started feeling sick and pain in their stomach.
He identified those who suffered the worse as Junfil Balansag, 12, his brother Kent and Hazel Marimon, 10. They were taken to VSMMC.
The police report revealed that the root crop was prepared by Barcelisa Ebardo, 50. But the children were the ones who cooked the cassava.
Regan said the cooking was done in two batches. He and his companions ate the first batch and the three children who were severely hit cooked the second batch.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), cassava root contains a chemical called hydrocyanic acid, which is poisonous.
Cassava should never be eaten raw. It should be peeled and washed thoroughly and cooked for a long time. Any cassava that tastes bitter should not be eaten.
Twenty-seven children died in Mabini, Bohol after eating fried cassava last March 9, 2005. However, it was found that the cassava they eat contained pesticide, which caused their death.
FAO said in its website that the safest and easiest way to prepare cassava is to peel and wash the roots, cut them into pieces, and boil them in water.
The other victims taken to the VSMMC yesterday were Carmel Cabanday, 8; Ranisa Cabanday, 11; Joseph Ryan Ebardo, 10; Joshua Bonsit, 17; and Luigi Balansag, 10.
Fifty-year-old Ebardo was also taken to the same hospital but was released minutes later.
Regan did not feel sick but was checked at the VSMMC, along with Roy Cabanday, 17; Rubi Cabanday, 12; Clarisa Bonsit, 12; and Felicidad Balansag, 76.
Regan they went to Caubian Dako to gather firewood. They later harvested cassava at an abandoned farm and brought this home to cook it.
The Lapu-Lapu police homicide section is still investigating the incident. (OCP of Sun.Star Cebu)
(May 5, 2006 issue)
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