Last week, two people died after they were allegedly poisoned after drinking milk tea from a milk teashop in Sampaloc Manila.

A tea house proprietor and his customer died after drinking an odd-tasting batch of milk tea from Ergo Chan Tea in Sampaloc, Manila.

The customer’s companion, who took just a sip of the milk tea, fell ill and was hospitalized. Initial investigation showed that an unknown substance mixed into their milk tea poisoned the victims. However, it is not yet clear if this was an accident, or pre-meditated.

This incident prompted the local government units and national government agencies to conduct an investigation. Although, the initial results from the investigation of the Department of Health (DOH) yielded negative result with respect to the presence of toxic substance in the milk tea sample. The incident caused alarm on the possible harmful contents or substances in food products and the manner of food preparations in food outlets all over the country.

An inspection of all food outlets should be made by the LGUs, DOH, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prevent similar occurrences of food poisoning, because of the contents of the food product being prepared, as well as the unhealthy conditions that attend to their preparation. We see food outlets in every city corner, and we don’t have to be experts to determine that the food preparations in these outlets are way below safety standards. According to records, there is a steady increase in food poisoning in the country since 2012 in areas as far as Butuan City, Ilo-Ilo City, La Union, and in Bulacan. These cases were due to poor food handling. This is the third incident of food poisoning in a milk tea station since 2012.

Safe food handling should be a serious matter. This is the responsibility of the food businesses. They have to follow strict safety food procedures; they have to make this a priority instead of profit. Government agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Health, and the Local Government Units are supposed to impose strict rules and regulations on food safety procedures. They are also expected to inspect and make sure these measures are implemented and enforced. They have the power to shut down any food businesses that fail to follow these procedures. Shortcuts and mediocrity are sometimes the cause of these lapses that we see in almost all branches of government. If these agencies tasked to ensure food safety in our food establishments do their job efficiently, and with a full sense of responsibility, I am sure we will see a steady decrease in food poisoning incident in the next few years, and avoid the senseless loss of life.