One child died while five others were admitted to the hospital after eating a frog adobo in General Santos City, according to a report in Unang Balita on Friday.
According to the local government, the two families shared the frog adobo they caught.
After eating frog adobo, the victims reportedly felt dizzy, abdominal pain, and vomiting. The child was not able to be taken to the hospital and he died in the mountain where they live.
Of the five who were rushed to the Barangay Health Center, three were children. They are currently recovering.
Frogs are one of the known exotic foods in the Philippines. These frogs were usually found in farms and reportedly taste like chicken.
Many poor Filipino families resort to exotic foods to survive as prices of basic commodities continue to increase amid the pandemic.
In December 2020, the national Social Weather Survey of November 21-25, 2020 found that 16.0% or an estimated 4.0 million families experienced involuntary hunger – hunger due to lack of food to eat – at least once in the past three months.
Also read: Confiscated roosters from illegal cockfight cooked into chicken adobo in Valenzuela
Child dead, 5 others hospitalized after eating frog adobo
The November 2020 Hunger rate is 15 points below the record-high 30.7% (est. 7.6 million families) in September 2020. Nevertheless, it is double the pre-pandemic 8.8% (est. 2.1 million families) of families in December 2019.
With hunger at 16.7% in May, 20.9% in July, and 30.7% in September, the average hunger rate for the full-year 2020 is a new record 21.1% of families. It surpasses the previous record of 19.9% in 2011 and 2012 and is double the average 9.3% for 2019 [Chart 2].
Hunger is 23.3% in Metro Manila, 16.0% in Mindanao, 14.4% in Balance Luzon, and 14.3% in the Visayas.
Metro Manila now has the highest incidence of Hunger at 23.3% (est. 780,000 families), followed by Mindanao at 16.0% (est. 909,000 families), Balance Luzon at 14.4% (est. 1.6 million families), and the Visayas at 14.3% (est. 674,000 families) [Charts 3-7, Tables 2-6].
In September 2020, Hunger was at 40.7% (est. 1.9 million families) in the Visayas, 37.5% (est. 2.1 million families) in Mindanao, 28.2% (est. 941,000 families) in Metro Manila, and 23.8% (est. 2.6 million families) in Balance Luzon.