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By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Police are investigating how a toxic chemical was mixed with fried eel,
which was served as a school meal and made some 30 students sick at an
elementary school in Yeongi, South Chungcheong Province.
Thirty-one students suffered from bouts of dizziness and vomiting after
having school lunch last Tuesday. Two of them became seriously ill but
their condition has since improved. As their symptoms were different from
ordinary food poisoning, the food authorities examined the meal and found carbofuran, a toxic pesticide, in the fried eel.
The eel was imported frozen from Peru in June. A food company in
Gyeonggi
Province bought some 500 kilograms
of the eel in October and distributed about half of it to the school and
other places in Gyeonggi and South
Chungcheong provinces. Police asked
the National Institute of Scientific Investigation to examine the eel,
while the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) banned sales of the
product.
``We don't know yet whether the eel contained the toxic chemical or the
substance was put in while frying the eel or making seasoning,'' a police
officer said.
The food authorities say it is unlikely that carbofuran
was contained in the eel, as the eel was not raised on farms but caught in
the sea. It was also imported and has been kept frozen, a KFDA official
said. The fried eel was provided to three schools including the one in
question, but only some of the students of that school showed symptoms
― a high chance that the chemical was put in the food just before
being served, either on purpose or by mistake, police said.
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