On the door of the kitchens of the canteen of the small school of Vézac, the gendarmes placed red seals: “Do not open”. This is where we ate around sixty kindergarten and primary school students this Tuesday, September 20 for lunch. During the day, 29 of them were seized with vomiting : “It could be food poisoning, although at the moment I don’t know”testifies the mayor Christian Roblès to France Blue Perigord.
The elected official was called at the end of the afternoon, he immediately rushed to the spot to find the fire brigade ambulances and the SAMU car in front of the school, and the children gathered in the village hall next door . Some vomit, to others the emergency doctors gave an emetic to help them evacuate. Nine children, dehydrated, are transported by firefighters to hospitals from Sarlat and Périgueux to undergo examinations. Most are from the town, but also from Beynac, in RPI with Vézac and Saint-Vincent-de-Cosse.
“No one is immune”
“I know it was a vegetarian menu, mostly _vegetables and raw vegetables, and dairy products, perhaps yogurt for dessert_“, says the mayor of Vézac. The canteen is under the responsibility of the municipality: “The meals are made here, in the school canteen which respects all hygiene standards, and which is relatively recent. Afterwards, no one is immune to contamination by bacteria in any product”.
The school is closed on Wednesdays. Analyzes will be carried out during the day by a laboratoryunder the control of the investigators: “There must be samples taken from control dishes, and we will see the conclusions of these analyzes”, laments Christian Roblès. Investigators should receive the first test results during the day, to try to confirm that it is indeed food poisoning. The investigation is led by the Bergerac prosecutor’s office.