Port-of-Spain (Trinidad Express):

Meals of macaroni pie, in which worms were said to have been found, are to be tested, after 103 schoolchildren and a teacher fell ill on Wednesday after eating the pie for lunch.

Apart from the pie, samples of saffron rice and red beans, which all formed part of the children's lunch at the Cap de Ville Government Primary School, will be tested, the Ministry of Education said.

It added that public health authorities also took samples of the school's water supply.

The samples are to be analysed by CARIRI and the results "are expected within a few days," the ministry said in a statement.

The pupils came down with stomach pains and many vomited, it was learned.

The pupils and the teacher were all treated at the Point Fortin Area Hospital and allowed to go home on Wednesday.

Police and the fire service responded to a call from the school's principal, and emergency personnel from neighbouring companies, Trinmar and Atlantic LNG, assisted in taking children to hospital. Nurses from the Point Fortin Area Hospital also visited the school to examine pupils whohad not been not affected.

Police said the lunches were provided by caterers contracted by the ministry's School Nutrition Programme.

Alerted

Around 11:45 a.m., pupils were having their lunches inside a classroom when a teacher noticed worms in the macaroni pie, The Express was told. She alerted the pupils and instructed them to stop eating. Shortly after, several pupils began complaining of stomach pains and some began to vomit and later complained of diarrhoea, an official said.

Staff members remained tight-lipped as concerned parents rushed to the hospital. They were outraged by what they saw.

Roxanne Thomas, a parent, said: "This is nonsense and slackness. These are the things, as parents, we need to stand up for."

Her nine-year-old daughter, Kieanne, was one of those affected.

Ann Toussaint, who has three children, ages seven, eight and nine, at the school, said: "It was very traumatic for me, hearing all my kids were taken to the hospital because of food poisoning. It is really disgusting. Sometimes they prepare meals such as bread, cheese and ketchup. My children come home and tell me it's pizza."

She added, "The Government needs to take the time and prepare proper meals for the kids."

Another parent, Lydia Persad, said: "Since this incident, I do not feel comfortable having my children partake of the box lunches at school anymore."

Dr. Adniyi Temitope, of the Point Fortin Area Hospital, said: "I attended to several children, about 20, with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea."

The ministry said school supervisors from the area met school officials yesterday and a report on the incident was expected within 24 hours.