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Students at a junior high school in Tochigi Prefecture’s Takenazawa town have felt ill after eating cheese at the school cafeteria, local board of education representatives said.
According to officials, 20 students who had eaten cheese that “smelled strange” as part of their school-provided lunches on July 10, complained of irritated stomach and other health conditions, Fuji TV reported.
The cheese was delivered to the school on July 5 from the local Takenazawa School Lunch Center and despite the label’s instructions for it to be kept refrigerated, it was left at room temperature for five days, officials said.
“Inspections were sloppy,” board of education representatives said in a statement.
© Japan Today
10 Comments
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Luddite
The cheese wasn't stored correctly. Who is going to be held accountable?
Hammerhead
For some kids with allergies, dairy can kill quicker than you can get them to hospital.
A higher proportions of Asians in general lack the enzymes required for dairy proteins.
Short of Mongolian yak herders, it's just not part of their heritage.
sensei258
I once left a bag of shredded mozzerela cheese on a pantry shelf for a week before I realized. It looked and smelled fine, and we had no adverse reactions from eating it.
nandakandamanda
sensei258, what time of year did you leave your mozarella out? No pantries in Japan suggest this was in... the UK?
metaterapin
Hammerhead is correct here, as he seems to be with most things on here, so not sure why he downvoting. I got you bro.
Hammerhead
@zichi
Why bother?
Lactose Intolerance for East Asian: 90-100%
Sources:
Michael de Vrese "Probiotics: Compensation for Lactase Insufficiency," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Feb., 2001
Annual Per Capita Consumption
U.S. Milk 85.7 - Japan Milk 35.8
Butter 2.0 to 0.7
Cheese 14.2 to 1.8
A large proportion also cannot take alcohol but it does not stop them consuming it either.
cleo
I didn't downvote, but I imagine those who did considered him to be off-topic.
The article says the kids got sick after eating cheese that smelled funny after it had been sitting out at room temperature for five days in the middle of summer. Nothing at all to do with dairy allergies or lack of enzymes to digest dairy products.
Like zichi says, someone is buying all that dairy stuff on the supermarket shelves, and it isn't just him and me. And where do all the kids who have milk with their school dinners every day, without showing any signs of intolerance, fit into that 90-100% intolerance?
sensei258 - are you sure it was cheese? Read the list of ingredients. Some of the cheaper stuff contains very little in the way of dairy, and is virtually indestructible.
Toasted Heretic
Lactose intolerant or not
I imagine that would be the reason for the dodgy stomachs.
garypen
I wonder why they ate cheese that "smelled strange"?
Obviously, some cheeses normally smell strange. So, they may have assumed it was one of those. But, sandwich cheese usually doesn't, especially in Japan.
I have a feeling that kids who complained about the smell were told to eat it anyway, or they simply chose not to make waves.