Canteen food downs 67 factory workers

CEBU CITY — Sixty-seven employees of a Taiwanese sportswear factory at the Mactan Export Processing Zone in Lapu-Lapu City had to be taken to a hospital here last Thursday after they were taken ill by food apparently from the company canteen.

The canteen concessionaire quickly denied that food served at her canteen was responsible for the poisoning but promised to cooperate in the investigation and help the company, Panphil Sportswear, shoulder the hospital bills of the victims.

Of the 67 employees taken to the Vicente Gullas Memorial Hospital, 20 required confinement. The rest were sent home after being given medication for stomach pain, headache, nausea and vomiting.

Company representatives who visited the workers at the hospital promised to shoulder their medical expenses and hospital bills.

"The workers were rushed to the hospital after they complained of stomach pain, vomiting and headache," said Dr. Leticia Abinuman, the company’s medical officer, said.

Abinuman, also the medical director of the Vicente Gullas Memorial Hospital, said the workers started complaining about feeling sick after consuming food from the canteen during their morning and lunch breaks. — Freeman News Service