Some parents of learners at the Welgevonden Primary School outside Ventersdorp in the North West have alleged that the instant porridge mix supplied by the school’s nutrition programme to feed the learners has expired.
This happened after some of the learners allegedly vomited, while others complained about stomach pains after eating porridge made from the mix last Wednesday.
One of the parents, who also contacted relevant food safety officials, said he learnt about this after other parents informed him that their children had an adverse reaction to the soft porridge served at school.
He said he requested to see the package and discovered that the contents have gone past its sell-by date.
“I didn’t want to make a big deal about it because the expiration date is July 19, so it’s less than a month ago. But when children started vomiting, it worried a lot of parents, so I called the people who are trained in that field to see if it was the porridge that was making the children sick,” he said.
He claimed that an official from the Department of Health’s Environmental Safety and Health Division advised him to alert other families to stop feeding the porridge to their children.
“She said we had to collect the expired porridge bags so she could condemn them; she said even though she couldn’t confirm it, she needed all bags condemned as a precaution,”he explained.
According to Maria Letsoalo, both of her children received the 8 kg bags of the porridge mix.
“My ten-year-old boy went to the toilet several times due to an upset stomach; I still don’t know what’s wrong; I even took him to the clinic, but he only gets sick minutes after eating the porridge,” she said.
However, Monnapula Rammutla pleaded with the school administration to inspect the food before serving it to the learners.
“Unfortunately, the food was released by educated people; the teachers and principal allowed the feeding scheme to supply food that is not acceptable; we rely on them to protect our children; we are not educated; we do not know this expiry date.But we rely on checks on our behalf.”
