Fifty-nine learners in Giyani were taken to hospital when they fell ill after eating food provided under their primary school’s nutrition programme as well as snacks. (Limpopo Health Department)
Fifty-nine learners in Giyani were taken to hospital when they fell ill after eating food provided under their primary school’s nutrition programme as well as snacks, the Limpopo education department said.
In a statement, it said the children from Dzumeri Primary School were rushed to the local hospital “when they started vomiting and others complained of stomach cramps”. The school also took all the learners who had been in contact with those who showed symptoms to the hospital, as a precautionary measure.
“Learners were fed porridge and milk from the school nutrition programme but preliminary reports indicate that they also had fat cakes and sweets,” the department said, adding that the pupils were in stable condition and that inspectors would “immediately start with investigations to establish the cause” of their illness.
This is the latest in a rising number of cases of food-borne illnesses, affecting mainly children, reported in townships in the Free State, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo in recent weeks.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi told a media briefing last weekend that since January, there had been 441 food-contamination cases in the province, which had resulted in 23 deaths.
He said seven postmortem results were positive for organophosphate — the chemical that was responsible for the deaths of six children in Naledi, Soweto, in early October.
The children, who were all aged under 10, died allegedly after eating chips bought from a local spaza shop but a forensic investigation did not show any direct link to the outlet.
Earlier this month, a child died in Alexandra after eating chips.
The health department has yet to release the results of inspections carried out at spaza shops in October. Its spokesperson, Foster Mohale, said the results would be out “by the end of the week”.