The Kerala Food Safety Authority conducted a statewide inspection after a 16-year-old girl died of food poisoning and over two dozen others were hospitalised after eating shawarma in a hotel in Kasaragod district five days ago.
State Health Minister Veena George said on Friday that inspection was conducted at 1,132 eateries, out of which 110 eateries were closed due to poor cleanliness, and 347 eateries were served show cause notices. The authorities also found that 61 establishments had no license. In addition, 140 kg meat was seized and 93 samples have been sent for tests, according to her.
George further said that various drives are currently going on to check food adulteration, and adulteration have been found in jaggery, curry powder, coconut oil, and milk. She added that more raids will be conducted across the state and at entry points to the state and markets and food processing centres.
The Minister noted that food adulteration is a serious offense and strict action will be taken against all the wrongdoers.
Along with the deceased girl, and many other students (some reports say around 40-50) were admitted to different hospitals on Sunday, May 1, due to suspected food poisoning two days after they ate chicken shawarma from an eatery in Kasaragod. They had diarrhoea, fever and vomiting. As per media reports, the eatery was situated near a tuition centre that the students attended. The girl, identified as Devananda from Karivellur, failed to respond to the treatment and died. A case was registered against the shop, which was sealed following investigations.
District Medical Officer Dr. A V Ramdas told media people that the food poisoning was caused by a bacterium called Shigella, the presence of which was discovered after blood and stool samples of the victims were tested at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital.
The DMO cautioned that unhygienic, undercooked, or contaminated food and water can be the source of Shigella, which can lead to highly contagious intestinal infection.
In the wake of the food poisoning death in neighbouring Kerala, the Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department has also started conducting raids in eateries across the state. A senior Food Department official told IANS that raids have been carried out in more than 1,000 restaurants, mostly those serving non-vegetarian fare, and seized stale meat including shawarma and other cooked meat products.
The official added that more than 300 kg of stale meat were collected from several areas of the state, and all the eateries were issued notice to produce relevant certificates, including food license, the food articles used at the eateries, and medical certificates of the employees.
The restaurants have been given a week time to produce all the licenses and certificates, failing which the shops would be sealed and their licenses would be cancelled.
