• THERESA MAE DULMAN
Laboratory tests conducted on a “tiny foreign object” found in a serving of arroz caldo distributed last Friday at the Bacolod City Government Center have yielded negative results for harmful bacteria.
The laboratory report from the Negros Prawn Producers Cooperative – Analytical and Diagnostic Laboratory, dated January 19, confirmed that tests for Total Coliform and E. Coli were both negative, though the specific nature of the object remains unknown.
The incident took place on January 16 when a job order employee at the Business Permits and Licensing Office reported finding the material in her individual cup during a city feeding program.
Initial medical inspections performed by Dr. Edwin Miraflor of the City Health Office described the item as a small object with no foul smell.
Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. noted that the object was found in only one cup among hundreds served that day, suggesting it was not part of the ingredients or the large-scale cooking process.
He said that the constant stirring in a large cauldron and the high heat required for cooking would have dissolved or neutralized any such material if it had been present during preparation.
Gamboa said that the feeding program, which provided vegetable-fortified meals to over one million residents across 61 barangays for 25 years, has never recorded a prior complaint.
It was further clarified that the object was likely introduced in the period between the distribution of the cups and the time it was noticed by the employee at her office.
The councilor added that agreed to release these findings to the public to maintain transparency and strictly adhere to established health protocols.
The food was distributed last Friday to around 300 people, including clients from the city’s Business One-Stop Shop.*
