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Massive food poisoning incident at international conference

World Vision is an Evangelical Christian humanitarian aid, development, and advocacy organisation, established in 1950. It is active is 60 countries. The religious affiliations are Protestantism, Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

At a recent conference on the campaign body, a mass outbreak of food poisoning occurred. The event took place in the Chi Kraeng district and the focus was on issues of child labor. The ingredients suspected of triggering food poisoning have been taken and sent to Phnom Penh for testing.

Some 700 people were at the conference, including several schoolchildren. A very high number of people were affected by the food poisoning issue: 542 people, including 364 children fell ill after consuming free snacks provided at the conference. The offending food stuff is thought to be a baguette filled with meat and pickles, according to the Faculty of Food Safety and Quality.

For the most part the infected people only needed to spend one night in hospital. However, 30 people were said to have been seriously affected and they are facing a prolonged stay at health centers.

The ingredients of the suspect food: chilli sauce, bread and pickles are being analysed at the Phnom Penh laboratory. One issue that has emerged is that the bakery that supplied the bread has been operating without a licence since June, 2014. As a recent of the incident the bakery has been closed by officials.

Business News Asia suspects that the food positioning is chemical rather than microbial. Local police suspect that the cucumbers may have been covered in some form of chemical herbicide and were not yet due to be picked or ready for the market.

World Vision have stated, according to the Cambodian Daily: “thorough internal investigation will take place in conjunction with the local police investigation and the findings will help World Vision put in place specific measures to ensure that food that is provided at World Vision events [is] safe for consumption”.

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Written By

Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.

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