16 students ill after drinking milk

There was panic yesterday morning at the ASJA Primary School in Barrackpore when 16 students complained of feeling unwell after drinking a milk beverage supplied for breakfast as part of the Health Ministry’s School Nutrition Programme. Four of the pupils, who were the most seriously affected and complained of vomiting and diarrhoea, were rushed to San Fernando General Hospital where they were treated and discharged. The other 12, who complained of nausea and abdominal pains, were taken in three cars to the Rochard Douglas Health Centre by teachers. They were examined by a doctor, given treatment and sent home. School principal Haroon Khan refused to comment on the incident and even threatened to call the police if the media did not leave the school compound. Communication’s Assistant in the Education Ministry, Hilton Braveboy, told Newsday that Palo Seco Agricul-tural Enterprises Ltd had supplied pre-packaged milk to the Barrackpore Children Lunch Association (BCLA), to distribute the beverage to schools in the district. According to Braveboy, that was the agreement made under the school nutrition feeding programme.

He said the BCLA had sent out an S.O.S to all schools after an official sampled the milk and found that it had a “strange taste”, but the ASJA primary school received the message too late. Braveboy added that the Victoria County Medical officer of Health, Dr Shivnauth, had since taken samples of the milk for testing. He said, depending on the outcome of the results, the Ministry would know what course of action would be taken. When contacted yesterday, TTUTA’s president Trevor Oliver, said they believed that every effort must be made to ensure that food for children is healthy. Saying he hoped the children were not seriously affected, he observed that generally the School Nutrition Programme had been a good one. Oliver added that he had been monitoring the programme and had not gotten many reports similar to yesterday’s incident at the Barrackpore school. However, he pointed out that additional precautions and infrastructure should be put in place to ensure that instances like this do not occur again. Attempts to the reach the ASJA Education Board proved futile. In an official release late yesterday the Palo Seco Agricultural Enterprises Limited (PSAEL) said its officers visited the Barrackpore ASJA Primary School and, out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of all concerned, withdrew the milk products until an investigation was done. According to the PSAEL release, the batch of milk distributed to schools in that area was produced on Monday, June 16, and delivered on Tuesday, June 17. No other school has reported any incident, added the release.