Taipei health department probes high-school over suspected food poisoning

• By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

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The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it sent inspectors to a high school in the city to check its cafeteria, after two students reported gastrointestinal symptoms following their school lunch.

It was the third suspected food poisoning incident in the city last week.

A Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls’ High School student on Sunday evening wrote on social media that she began feeling ill about two hours after she ate fishcake tempura from the school’s cafeteria on Monday last week.

The entrance to Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School is pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo: Taipei Times

A friend who shared the food with her experienced the same symptoms, even though she only ate two pieces, she added.

They visited the school’s health center in the afternoon and were told to observe their symptoms for a few days, but the student sought emergency treatment at a hospital that evening for abdominal pain and returned home to rest, she said.

Her discomfort worsened the next day, so she sought emergency treatment again and was diagnosed with peritonitis and hospitalized, she said.

Her mother reported the situation to the school’s health center on Thursday, but the cafeteria continued to sell the fishcake, the student wrote.

The school yesterday confirmed that the student had felt discomfort after lunch on Monday last week and was diagnosed with gastroenteritis.

After her homeroom teacher contacted the student’s mother, the school learned that she received a blood test and an X-ray, and recovered after taking antibiotics, while another student who felt ill that day recovered the next day, the school said.

The cafeteria sells about 40 bags of fishcake each day, and only two students reported feeling ill on Monday last week, so whether the illness was caused by food poisoning has yet to be determined, it said.

The cafeteria has been ordered to temporarily stop selling deep-fried food, while the school would continue to follow up on the student’s blood test results and cooperate with inspections, it added.

The department said it did not receive a report of suspected food poisoning from the hospital or the school, but has sent inspectors to check the personnel hygiene of workers in the cafeteria, food handling, pest control and workplace hygiene.

If food safety issues are found, the cafeteria would be required to improve the situation within a specified time, and might face a fine if it fails to meet required standards in a second inspection, it said.

Two high schools in Taipei — Chengyuan High School and Da Li Senior High School — also reported suspected food poisoning cases after students ate school lunch provided by the same contracted vendor last week.