Five of the middle school students who drank the milk tea that they had made during a classroom activity required hospitalization over food poisoning in Lao Cai Province, northern Vietnam earlier this week.

A total of 38 eighth-grade students and their chemistry teacher tried making milk tea in their classroom at Pom Han Middle School in the northern province’s Lao Cai City on Monday morning.

The teacher drank the milk tea made by the students to grade their efforts before the latter consumed it.

About an hour later, five of the students exhibited symptoms such as abdominal pain, queasiness, headaches, and diarrhea. 

The children underwent examination at the school’s medical room and were subsequently transferred to the Lao Cai General Hospital, where they were diagnosed with food poisoning. 

Later on Monday afternoon, all five children were discharged from the hospital and resumed their regular school attendance the following day.

Duong Thi Mai Huong, principal of Pom Han Middle School, on Friday explained that the milk tea preparation activity is part of the school’s curriculum, aimed at allowing students to gain practical experience and explore potential career interests. 

Before conducting the lesson, the chemistry teacher had instructed the students on ingredient preparation and had provided them with the address of a reliable shop to procure the necessary ingredients.

“However, on the day of the lesson, the recommended store was not open, prompting the students to purchase the ingredients from a different establishment,” Huong said.

As the school did not keep the samples of the milk tea made by the students and the ingredients used for preparation, the Lao Cai City Medical Center collected and examined six ingredient samples that were supplied to the children by the aforementioned establishment. 

These samples have been sent to the National Institute for Food Control for testing, and the results are currently pending.

An inspection team discovered that the business establishment in question breached several regulations, including the absence of price listings and the presence of many products of unclear origin. 

Market surveillance officers documented these violations and issued a decision to punish the respective business entity.

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