Salt downs 6 in South Cotabato? Health exec probes

KORONADAL CITY - Health officials in Surallah, South Cotabato are investigating whether a table salt triggered poisoning of about six persons Monday, officials said today.The six persons, whose identities were withheld by authorities, arenow under medication at a local health facility in town. Dr. Niel Crespo, Surallah health officer, said no conclusion yet as to what triggered nausea and dizziness of patients. All the victims belonged to one family living in the village of Dajay, Surallan. After we examined them, we advised them to go home,” Dr. Crespo told Radyo Bida dxOM-AM here. Crespo saidfood handling and preparation are contributory to what the patients have experienced. The food may have been contaminated.He said if the table salt was the source there could be more than six people suffering similar illness since the source was a sari-sari store in the village. Other residents bought the samesalt in the same store but none of them have complained,” Dr. Crespo said. Salt samples have beento South Cotabato Provincial Health Office for laboratory tests.Food poisoning has become the recent scare that hit many places in Mindanao following the incident in Caraga region, Kidapawan City and Aleosan in North Cotabato where durian candy and siopao, respectively,downed pupils.