The Health Ministry has warned people stop drinking unchecked rice or herbal wine and not to eat the meat of dead animals whose cause of death was unknown, after 16 people died and 150 fell ill in Kratie province over the past month,
“Dear, citizens, please urgently stop drinking rice wine or herbal wine without checking and also stop eating sick or dead animal meat. If you still drink and eat like this, it will make you sick or kill you,” Health Minister Mam Bunheng said in a statement yesterday.
Mr. Bunheng encouraged anyone feeling ill to immediately seek medical attention at the nearest health center or hospital.
“Recently, there was a case of poisoning by rice wine and there were villagers dying continuously, which happened in Kratie province because they drank rice wine or herbal wine and ate sick or dead animal meat,” he said.
“The result of tests of samples of the rice wine which were collected from the scene found that the rice wine and herbal wine that the villagers drank contained high levels of ethanol which poisoned them,” said Mr. Mam Bunheng.
The deaths and illness from November 9 to December 12 occurred in 22 villages in three districts in the province: Sambor, Snoul and Chetr Borei.
Ethanol levels are normally about 0.15 percent. But the results of the tests by the National Laboratory of the Health Ministry found levels of between 10.57 percent and 12 percent.
“The local authorities closed the wine-producing place which was involved with the case and they will follow-up and educate people about food hygiene in order to protect themselves from wine poisoning,” the statement said.
“The Ministry of Health has been working with international partners such as the World Health Organization (WHO) on prevention and inspection in food safety because health problems caused by food poisoning can badly affect public health and the economy.”
Acting Kratie provincial governor Hoeur Siyem ordered all wine production throughout the province halted after three villagers died and another 11 people fell ill from bad wine on Saturday.
“We see that there are a lot of villagers in some districts that drank rice wine and it made them sick and several died, so I told all town and district [officials] to go down to check and immediately stop production at the village-commune level and consult experts from the department before allowing them to re-open,” said Mr. Siyem.
He said that the rice wine sellers must be held accountable by the law. “The district and town governors have to take action quickly to stop all rice wine production and sales in their community and they have to behave very responsibly and effectively,” he said.
