The Vinh Long Provincial Health Department announced on August 14 that the number of workers hospitalised for food poisoning treatment after having lunch at the Bo Hsing Company had risen to 223.
"All the workers suffered from the same health problems, including stomach aches, diarrhoea, and vomiting, after having lunch at the Bo Hsing Company in Hoa Phu Industrial Zone on August 12," the department said. "Many of them have improved and been released for home monitoring."
A report from local authorities said that over 1,000 workers had lunch with fried chicken, braised pork and eggs, stir-fried cabbage, and vegetable soup. They soon developed food poisoning symptoms, and more than 180 of them had been sent to local hospitals for treatment by late that afternoon.
The Vinh Long Health Department is investigating the case.
Several large-scale food poisoning cases affecting workers have recently occurred at local companies' canteens. In May, over 400 workers at Vinh Phuc-based Shinwon Ebenezer Vietnam Company were hospitalised after eating green bean sprouts soup contaminated with the Bacillus Cereus bacteria. In June, 127 workers at the Song Cam Shipbuilding Company in Hai Phong City also suffered food poisoning after eating braised fish that contained a histamine 40 times higher than the permitted level.
