Milk didn’t cause kids’ poisoning, says BFAD

The chocolate milk was not the culprit.

This was the initial finding of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) which conducted laboratory tests on milk samples which earlier were believed to have downed schoolchildren in Minalin, Pampanga recently.

Carmina Parce, of the BFAD’s microbiology laboratory, said the milk samples tested negative for any form of bacteria and showed no abnormalities in odor and appearance.

The chocolate milk products, supplied by Alaska Milk Corp. (AMC), were distributed by the Department of Education under its milk feeding program in selected schools nationwide.

Although the results of laboratory tests on other samples are yet to be released, AMC officials felt relieved by BFAD’s initial findings.

In a statement, AMC said the test results validated the integrity of its chocolate milk products.

Santiago Polido, AMC director for corporate affairs, said the BFAD findings supported their earlier speculations that "lactose intolerance," not food poisoning, caused stomach ache and vomiting among the Minalin schoolchildren.

"The Minalin incident was really unfortunate and we understand how the parents of the schoolchildren, school officials and even the local government officials must have felt when it happened. But we believe it is time to put the incident behind us," Polido said.