Durban - The DA in KwaZulu-Natal has urged authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to determine what made 40 pupils at a Verulam primary school fall ill and display signs of food poisoning last week.
This comes after Richester Foods, which manufactures the XPop Energy Cola Fizz lollipops that the children said they consumed before they fell sick at school, revealed on Monday that preliminary test results from independent laboratory KLM High-Giene Solutions showed that the lollipops were not responsible for the health scare.
The Mercury reported that the pupils - aged between 5 and 13 - approached teachers and complained of severe abdominal pain, breathing difficulties and nausea after consuming the lollipops that they bought at the school’s market day on Friday.
KLM director Khutsiso Kgole confirmed that the samples tested had zero counts of Coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and Bacillus cereus.
“Based on the test results supplied (of the specified samples), the products were clear of any of the tested bacteria, thus rendering them microbiologically clean” said Kgole.
The confectionery manufacturer’s managing director, Dr Hussein Cassim, said on Monday that after performing extensive tests on the lollipops, KLM High-Giene had failed to detect any bacterial contamination or causes that could cause ill health.
Cassim added that the company had shared these results with the school and other stakeholders in the hope that it would aid their own investigations into finding the real cause of the children’s illness.
DA KZN spokesperson on Education, Dr Imran Keeka, said on Tuesday that the incident had raised much concern.
Keeka said that while the DA welcomed this initial outcome, the party also awaited the final findings by the independent laboratory.
“And while we are by no means apportioning any blame, it remains implausible that so many children should take ill on a single day.
“We therefore urge authorities to dig deep and find the reasons for the mass outbreak of stomach ailments. Our children must be safe within their school environments, and the source of this must be established,” he said.