Quarantine alerted on food from FSM

The CNMI government has mobilized its quarantine personnel stationed at both the islands’ air and sea transport facilities to guard against the entry of all food items from the Federated States of Micronesia feared to be contaminated with cholera-causing bacteria.

The Quarantine Division of the Department of Lands and Natural Resources has been instructed by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to strictly enforce the restriction on the entry of food from the island-nation until it is cleared of the infectious disease.

According to DLNR spokesperson Marian Concepcion, quarantine personnel have been ordered to confiscate all inbound food items, both cooked and raw, from the FSM beginning Monday up until the cholera outbreak in the country has been contained.

Ms. Concepcion also mentioned that those who would be bringing in the restricted food from Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap will be obligated to pay for the incineration of the confiscated items which costs 79 cents per pound.

Acting Agriculture Director Stanley Villagomez promptly issued a memorandum to all ports of entry to the Northern Marianas, after receiving Mr. Tenorio’s instruction restricting entry of all food items from the cholera-stricken Micronesian country.

The governor ordered the indefinite ban on the importation of raw or cooked food from the FSM in the wake of food poisoning at a wedding reception Saturday, which downed over 90 people who were rushed to the Commonwealth Center due to diarrhea, vomiting and stomach cramps.

The Department of Public Health raised the possibility that the food poisoning may have been caused by a seafood imported from the FSM for the wedding reception.

The government sent specimen, including leftover food, for laboratory analysis to Guam to determine what triggered the food poisoning. The results of the analysis will be released today, according to public health officials.

The governor has also reminded the public health department to alert the public of a reported outbreak of cholera in FSM, particularly in the state of Pohnpei.

The cholera epidemic in FSM raised fears that food items coming from the country may be contaminated with cholera-causing virus, Vibrio Cholerae, which forced the CNMI government to ban its entry into the Commonwealth.

This, even as the World Health Organization disclosed food import ban is not the safest way to contain food-borne diseases like cholera. It said the placing of embargoes on the importation of food is not an appropriate course of action to prevent the international spread of cholera.

WHO said the ban can even represent an additional burden on the economy of the affected countries.

Cases of cholera have occurred occasionally as a result of eating food, usually seafood, transported across international borders by individual travelers but WHO has never documented an outbreak of the disease resulting from commercially imported food.

The foods that cause the greatest concern to importing countries are seafood, freshwater fish and vegetables that may be consumed raw.

An individual sick with cholera may die of dehydration within 2-3 hours if no treatment is provided. Symptoms also include sudden onset of frequent watery stools, rapid dehydration, sunken eyeballs, fontanelle, and wrinkled and dryness of the skin.