The number of Barangay Calumangan, Bago City, residents hit by food poisoning Monday rose from 30 to 48 but all are now in stable condition and recovering, Bago City Health Officer Pilar Mabasa said yesterday.

On Monday night, Mabasa said the number of patients hospitalized at the Bago hospital rose to 30 and the outpatients to 16.

Two other patients were brought to Bacolod hospitals. The buko (coconut) macaroni salad they ate at a birthday party Monday afternoon is suspected to be the cause of the food poisoning, Mabasa said.

They said they noticed that the salad was sour when they ate it, she said.

Mabasa lamented the lack of a laboratory in Western Visayas to conduct immediate lab tests on food samples to determine the bacteria that cased the food poisoning.

Bureau of Food and Drugs personnel in Manila informed her that any tests conducted on the buko macaroni salad now would not be accurate anyway since it has already deteriorated further since the food poisoning and has developed plenty of other bacteria, she said.*CPG

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