Butuan City (CNN Philippines) – All patients who had been hospitalized for durian candy poisoning in Surigao del Sur were discharged on Sunday morning (July 12), Gov. Johnny Pimentel told CNN Philippines in a telephone interview.
The police, meanwhile, continued to study the possible legal liabilities of the owner of Wendy’s Durian Candy, from which the candies came from, and the ambulant vendors who distributed them.
“It’s back to normal here in Surigao del Sur as we’ve learned lessons of this first ever mass food poisoning in the province,” Pimentel said.
“But I recommended to health and education officials for mass stress debriefing, especially of those severely affected.”
A total of 1,518 people – mostly high school and elementary public schools students in Tandag City and seven towns in the province – were hospitalized on Friday (July 10) eating the tainted candies.
Pimentel also announced the resumption of classes on Monday in all schools affected by the food poisoning.
“All were treated well and discharged and medical authorities said, the victims can go back to their respective schools,” he said.
He added: “I ordered a temporary stop for all ambulant vendors to enter school premises in the entire province of Surigao del Sur pending outcome of the results of the investigation of the candy poisoning so that stop-gap measures can be made to prevent such horrible incident from happening again.”
Earlier, Senior Supt. Narciso Verdadero, chief of the Surigao del Sur Provincial Police Office, told CNN Philippines that there were 13 ambulant vendors from Davao City scattered in several areas of Surigao del Sur in selling durian, mangosteen, and mango-flavored candies.
Verdadero said nine had been arrested, including the driver of the white L-300 Mitsubishi De Luxe Van used to transport the candies. Four others remained at large.
Pimentel has already ordered Verdadero to file a complaint against the Davao City-based candy maker and the vendors for various violations. Wendy’s Durian Candy was reportedly not registered with the Food and Drugs Administration, he said.
“Somebody has to answer for this so that this will never be imitated by others who have desire to do it again maybe for profit,” Pimentel said.
“Fortunately no one got killed. This is because of early response and quick rescue our provincial government and other LGUs in the province had installed and institutionalized.”
In an earlier interview, Verdadero told CNN Philippines that the police were studying the liability of Janet Aquino, owner of Wendy’s Durian Candy, which is based in Ma-a, Davao Ctiy.
Aquino had presented herself at Talomo Police Station in Davao City to explain, saying that her durian candies were earlier bought in bulk by some customers.
“The owner is not yet off the hook because of many findings of violations, like expiration dates of the products and proper labeling of the products. All of these, we are going to study,” Verdadero said.
Enterprising people, Verdadero said, bought the durian candies wholesale and repacked them to make more money.
He said they bought each pack of candies for P25, wholesale, and the repacked them in smaller units, selling each one for P100.
