Test results are available in the case of a series of students admitted to a medical station in Nghe An.

Accordingly, on March 17, 2021, immediately after receiving information about the childrenQuang Trung Primary School students were taken to the medical station for emergency treatment.After using free drinks in front of the school gate, the Food Safety and Hygiene Department sent officers to directly investigate and verify the incident, and at the same time sent samples for testing to determine the cause.

This unit took samples of the bottle of water labeled Goodmood Real Orange Extract Drink (Manufacturer: 020321 A14, Expiry date: 021221 22B, manufactured by Suntorry Pepsico Vietnam Beverage Company Limited, address: Sheraton Building, No. 88, Dong Khoi Street, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), to send to the National Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene Control for testing.

Test results showed that no risk factors for food poisoning were detected in the sample mentioned above.

Therefore, Nghe An Food Safety and Hygiene Department determined: Eliminate the factor causing food poisoning in the product Goodmood Real Orange Extract Drink of Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage Company Limited).

Students' stomach aches were not caused by free drinks. Photo: Tien Hung

Previously, as reported by Nghe An Newspaper, at the beginning of the afternoon class on March 16, a group of people in a car stopped in front of the gate of Quang Trung Primary School (Vinh City) and distributed free bottles of drinking water to students. The principal then stopped the students from drinking the water and used a loudspeaker to call on them to hand over the bottles. As a result, 183 bottles of soft drinks were collected. In addition, the school also held an urgent meeting to request teachers to collect a list of students who had consumed the drink to monitor their health. As a result, 53 students said they had consumed this drink.

At around 4:15 p.m. the same day, 6 students from class 4D, Quang Trung Primary School, showed symptoms of mild abdominal pain, 2 of whom were accompanied by vomiting and were taken by their teacher to the Quang Trung Ward Health Station for monitoring and treatment. There were 3 more students who did not show any abnormal symptoms but were still transferred to the health station for monitoring at the request of their families. By 9:30 p.m., the children were stable and returned home. On the morning of March 17, the children went to school and did physical activities normally.

Of the 9 children, 8 had lunch at school with the following dishes: braised chicken, stir-fried bamboo shoots with chicken gizzards, squash soup with bones, etc. However, when the inspection team arrived, the food samples had been stored for more than 24 hours. Therefore, the investigation and monitoring team did not collect food samples stored at the school for testing. (On March 17, which was a Wednesday, the school did not organize lunch because the students only attended one morning session).

Regarding the cause of the incident, the Nghe An Food Safety Department stated: "Excluding the factor causing poisoning" and "thinking more about the phenomenon of digestive disorders due to the students using too much carbonated water to drink at one time".