As many as 487 people had been hospitalized as of Friday afternoon due to suspected food poisoning after eating banh mi purchased from a local establishment in Dong Nai Province, a neighbor of Ho Chi Minh City, on Tuesday, according to the provincial Department of Health.

The admitted patients exhibited symptoms of food poisoning after eating banh mi bought from Bang Bakery on Tran Quang Dieu Street.

A popular dish in Vietnam, banh mi is a type of Vietnamese baguette filled with cold meats, pâté, and vegetables. 

The Long Khanh Regional General Hospital has so far received a total of 451 patients, the Dong Nai Rubber Hospital, 24 cases, and Ai Nghia Clinic, 12 cases.

Among the victims were many children who were suffering from severe gastroenteritis.

The Dong Nai Children’s Hospital is providing treatment to 12 child patients who were transferred from other hospitals.

Two out of the patients at the hospital are in a critical state and are put on ventilators.

A leader of the Dong Nai Children’s Hospital said that the hospital is providing intensive care to patients.

A seven-year-old boy was hospitalized in a state of respiratory failure and septic shock. He has to rely on a ventilator, receive anti-shock fluids, and vasopressors, the hospital’s leader added.

One child has been moved to the Children's Hospital 1 in neighboring Ho Chi Minh City.

The remaining patients are all in stable condition.

Due to the sharp increase in the number of hospitalizations, the Long Khanh Regional General Hospital has opened an additional emergency and poisoning treatment unit with 70 beds.

The hospital has also mobilized all possible medical workers and resources to treat the patients, said Phan Van Huyen, its director.

Bang Bakery sold 1,100 banh mi on Tuesday, said the bakery owner.

As the bakery is small, it is not required to have food safety certification. The bakery has no documentation regarding the suppliers of the ingredients used in its banh mi.

The bakery has four employees and none of them have undergone health check-ups or training courses in food safety as required by regulations.

Following the incident, an inspection team blocked a refrigerator containing 15 kilograms of pickled vegetables, one kilogram of cha lua (Vietnamese pork sausage), one kilogram of processed pork, and some 10 kilograms of pâté, and is collaborating with other relevant agencies to initiate an investigation.

Local health workers have taken samples of banh mi from the seller and sent them to a lab for testing.

Local authorities suspended the operation of the establishment at 11:00 am on Wednesday, pending a conclusion of their investigation.

The administration in Long Khanh, a city in Dong Nai, has required the leaders of local wards and communes and relevant agencies to enhance inspections into catering service providers, especially small eateries and vendors, to early detect and handle food safety violations.

On Wednesday, the Long Khanh Regional General Hospital received many patients with food poisoning symptoms including fever, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea, which appeared about four to eight hours after they ate banh mi bought from Bang Bakery.

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