Police is investigating circumstances under which two people died after eating poisonous food supplied by the world food programme in northern Uganda.
According to the police spokesperson Fred Enanga, the victims were releasing blood from their mouths and vomiting after eating the food. For many years now, WFP has been supplying food to vulnerable people including the elderly, pregnant women and children.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has since suspended distribution of the Super Cereal, a fortified blended food in Uganda.
Enanga says they have taken samples from the deceased and six other people who were rushed to the hospital, treated and discharged. The samples including blood and urine have been forwarded to the government analytics laboratory to determine the deaths.
Also, samples have been obtained from stores that keep the cereals and the main WFP stores. These will also be checked to see if they are free of poison.
According to Enanga, should they find any poisonous substances in the food, their investigation will be expanded and officials will be held liable for the death of the individuals.
The deceased are 67 year old Chemikang Seriam who died on March 16th and 58 year old Lobit Marino.
“There are other several other beneficiaries six of them from Amudat who were admitted at Alakas health centre, they go treatment and were later discharged. We have obtained samples of their urine, blood and leftovers from the food that they ate which we submitted to government analytics” Enanga said.
