Nearly 2,000 workers at Hansoll Vina Co Ltd in the Song Than Industrial Park in southern Binh Duong Province were hospitalized for treatment yesterday after developing symptoms of food poisoning after their afternoon meal. Shortly after eating the meal at 4:30 pm Thursday, most of the workers developed vomiting, headaches, belly pain and dizziness, and many of them passed out in their factory. They were taken to Hospital No. 4 of the 4th Corps, Ho Chi Minh City's Thu Duc General Hospital, and a private clinic in Binh Duong at about 6 pm. Nearly 1,000 of the victims were hospitalized at Hospital No. 4, seriously overloading the facility. The hospital’s management had to arrange for patients to lie on floors or in corridors and called for doctors and nurses from other health facilities to come for help. At 8 pm, about 400 patients were still being treated at the hospital and the private clinic, while the victims with less severe symptoms had been discharged. This was the first time that Hospital No. 4 had received such a large number of patients of food poisoning, Trinh Duc Minh, deputy director of the hospital, said. The food in their meal had been prepared in two optional menus, with the first including cooked braised meat, fried morning glory, and soup, while the other offered vermicelli and grilled chopped fish, bean sprouts, and vegetables.

Food poisoned workers being treated at Hospital No. 4 (Photo: Dan Tri)

Many victims suspected that the culprits of the poisoning were the vermicelli with grilled chopped fish, or the soup, both of which had a strange taste. The provincial Labor Federation and the Food Safety and Hygiene Sub-department have taken samples of the food and from poisoned victims for testing to investigate the cause of the poisoning. Hansoll Vina is a producer of apparel and textiles, with a workforce of about 5,000 workers in Binh Duong.