Twenty-six students from Anjo Gakuen High School in Aichi Prefecture were hospitalized due to food poisoning while they were performing as the representatives from the Tokai region in a national marching band contest in Osaka.
The event was being held at Osaka-jo Hall at around 2 p.m. Sunday when the children suddenly began suffering from food poisoning related symptoms such as vomiting and stomach pain, and had to be hospitalized, NTV reported.
According to school officials, 128 band members from the school had eaten breakfast that morning at a hotel in Iga City, Mie Prefecture, before boarding charter buses to Osaka. While on the bus, the students were served bento lunches prepared by the school.
© Japan Today
9 Comments
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SenseNotSoCommon
Norovirus season again.
igloobuyer
hygiene problems in Japanese food preparation; or lack thereof.
StormR
Let me guess, bento not stored properly. Fairly common and the reason why I shun these boxed meals.
A.N. Other
So instead of marching, they got the galloping majors.
smithinjapan
Some day they'll have health inspectors here, and better safety standards. Until then, or for those who deny things are lax, we'll read about the next mass food poisoning while on a school related event before too long. Just hope all the kids recover quickly and they can salvage something positive from the whole experience.
tokyosteve
Anyone who has seen the movie "Swing Girls" will recognise this as a case of life imitating art!!
gogogo
Obviously the school made the bentos the day and left them out somewhere. Japan is notorious for not putting things in the fridge.
igloobuyer
@smithinjapan
They do have; I had a student who was a food inspector. Problem is there are few of them and there is not a regular system of hygiene checks like there are in other countries. They also rarely enforce rules - bit like other laws in Japan.
Christopher Glen
That pretty much applies to every bakery in Japan, with bread and stuff being left in the open air for customers to pick up or sneeze on. The same thing at supermarkets, with fried fish and other goods being left on open air trays.