ILOILO CITY, (PNA) — President Benigno Aquino III’s youngest sister, Kris Aquino, said “It is more delicious to eat in Iloilo City,” during her visit to this city to savor the Ilonggo cuisine last summer.
Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog said he wants to keep that impression as he ordered the sanitary inspectors of City Health Office to strictly check the cleanliness and food preparation procedures of all food establishments here to prevent another food poisoning incident.
The mayor’s order came after two food poisoning incidents were reported in this city in just two weeks.
The latest involved 11 Korean students who complained of stomach pains and diarrhea after eating dinner on October 9. They were treated at St. Paul’s Hospital, but were released after a few hours.
Two weeks earlier, a person died while 57 others were hospitalized after taking milk tea with egg pudding at Dakasi Milk Tea House.
Dr. Glenn Alonsabe, chief epidemiologist of the Department of Health Region 6 (DOH-6), said they already took samples of the food eaten by the Korean nationals for submission to laboratory test at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
In the case of Dakasi milk tea, the DOH had earlier said the beverage was contaminated with E-coli bacteria.