Food poisoning crisis: Nine WC pupils treated while ‘mystery pills’ appear in chip packets

As authorities and the Presidency move to clamp down on South Africa’s food poisoning crisis, yet another incident has surfaced in the Western Cape where nine learners from a Mossel Bay school were rushed to hospital with severe stomach cramps on Monday.

In a statement issued by the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM), Mayor Andrew Stroebel said it is believed the children bought the chips from a local spaza shop.

He says they were immediately taken to a Mossel Bay hospital and treated for their symptoms.

Stroebel says all nine children have since recovered and discharged.

Alleged Mossel Bay food poisoning incident investigated

The mayor added that Environmental Health Practitioners (EHP) from the GRDM have already initiated an investigation into the incident.

As part of the standard procedures followed, the chips will be sent to a laboratory, and test results will be made public once they are received.

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Pills found in spaza snacks

Western Cape

Earlier this month, police in Great Brak River were alerted to various incidents in which pills were found in packets of chips.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Laurianne Botha said the pills were found in different brands of chips, allegedly bought from spaza shops in Wolwedans, Greenhaven and Friemersheim.

The supplier, Truda Foods, has however ruled out the possibility that pills could have ended up in its packets of chips.

Although it is not yet known what type of tablets were found, a spokesperson for Truda Foods, Sloane Lang, said the only way it could have ended up in the chips is if someone opened the packets and put the pills inside.

Sloane said that after the pill complaints were received, various law enforcement officers, including the police, as well as the provincial Department of Health, conducted inspections at the spaza shops where the chips are believed to have been bought.

Botha confirmed that packets of chips were opened at these shops, but no pills were found in them and the shops met the necessary requirements. 

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Eastern Cape

On 8 November, community members in East London took to the streets to protest against spaza shops after pills were allegedly found inside packets of chips.

According to eNCA, these chips are said to have been sold by a local spaza shop owned by foreign nationals.

Northern Cape

In another incident in the Northern Cape, two mysterious white pills were allegedly discovered inside packets of chips bought by learners from Kenhardt Primary School at a local spaza shop.

The shock find was reported by a Grade 4 learner, who brought the pills to a teacher’s attention.

Northern Cape police spokesperson Sergeant Timothy Sam confirmed that the incident was reported on 5 November.

“Two packets of chips were reportedly bought at a spaza shop in the area by learners from the primary school. The police have since sourced the services of the Environmental Health Inspectors (EHI) in the ZF Mgcawu District for further compliance inspections and investigations.

“The EHI report will form part of the police investigations,” said Sam.

KwaZulu-Natal

Nosipho Mkhize, a KwaMashu mother, shared with Sunday Tribune over the weekend that her daughter recently found a pill in a packet of chips that she had bought from a spaza shop in the area.

Mkhize said she went to the police with the packet of chips and showed the pill to them.

She said they could not open a case because they did not know what charge it would be.

“The detective took the pill and said they would have it tested and results would come back after three months,” she added.

Scourge of food poisoning incidents in SA

So far there have been 890 cases of food-borne illnesses that have been reported in the country with Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Free State, and Mpumalanga the hardest hit.

A total of children from different provinces have died after eating contaminated snacks and food products.

Last month, six children, the youngest of them being six years old, died in Naledi in the North West Province.

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