Workers hospitalized with food poisoning

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Some 300 workers of shoe company PT Prima Inreksa in Cikupa, Tangerang were rushed to hospital on Friday morning with suspected food poisoning.

Vera Damayanti, 24, one of workers treated at the Tangerang General Hospital (RSU), said that she and friends had dinner at the company's cafeteria at around 7 p.m. on Thursday.

She ordered a piece of fried chicken and chilly sauce with rice.

She said that she felt fine until she went home after the dinner.

"I woke up at about 3:40 a.m. on Friday. I had such a bad stomach ache and it continued until I started work at the factory at 7 a.m.," she said.

Thirty minutes after she started work, she and other fellow workers began to fall to the ground one by one.

The situation caused other workers to panic. Some workers fainted, some began to vomit and dozens of others had to go back and forth to the bathroom.

The workers were then taken to the factory's compound to wait for a vehicle to transport them to the hospital.

The workers were sent for treatment at four different hospitals -- RSU, Usada Insani in Cipondoh, Asobirin in Serpong and Al-Qadr in Karawaci at around 7:30 a.m. on Friday.

Iskandar, a staff member of the company's human resources division said that the workers had consumed food that had already gone bad at the factory's cafeteria.

"The food they consumed at the cafeteria gave them food poisoning. The cost of medical treatment of all workers who were sent to the hospital will be paid from the workers' Jamsostek insurance," he said.

Employing some 6,500 workers, PT Prima Inreksa is one of companies that produces Adidas shoes in Tangerang.