The product was contaminated with Clostridium botulinum type B bacteria, which produces dangerous toxins blocking nerve functions, which can lead to respiratory and muscular paralysis and even death.

A child patient is treated at Dong Nai General Hospital due to poisoning caused by Minh Chay vegan pate.

Dr Nguyen Van Hao, head of the department of emergency aid - intensive resuscitation - treatment of poisoning for adults at the city Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said the mortality rate is up to 20 per cent of contaminated patients.

Minh Chay vegan pate is made by the Loi song moi Company in Hanoi.

The Vietnam Food Administration has ordered health departments and management boards to recall the product and 12 others of the company.

The administration has told Hanoi police to investigate and treat the problem.

In HCM City, the Food Safety Management Board had identified 1,290 people who bought 1,559 boxes of vegan pate as of Tuesday, Pham Khanh Phong Lan, the board’s head, said at a press meeting on Tuesday.

The board has contacted 1,101 people. Many people bought the product to present to their relatives and friends in other provinces such as Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.

It has called relevant agencies in these provinces to warn users and has recalled 103 products, accounting for 10 per cent of the total sold in the market.

“Because the company’s products are sold online and in small vegan food shops, recalling all of them has been difficult,” Lan said.

The board also warned that consumers should stop using the company’s products.

Dr Hao, of the city Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said that on July 27 the department admitted a female patient from the Mekong Delta province of Long An in respiratory and muscular paralysis.

The department’s doctors at first diagnosed that she suffered from a disease relating to nerves.

Food Safety Management Board staff recall products from the Loi Song Moi Company.

However, they also admitted a member of the first patient's family who was in the same situation as the female patient. Doctors were told that the patients had eaten the Minh Chay vegan pate. After testing, doctors said they had been poisoned by the clostridium botulinum bacterium.

After more than a month of treatment, they are in serious condition and are still using a ventilator. Their muscular strength has not improved.

Hao advised that users of the vegan pate should visit the nearest health facilities.

As of Wednesday, more than 20 patients have been poisoned after eating the product and have been treated in hospitals in Hanoi, HCM City, and Dong Nai Province.

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Source: VNS