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Written By: IANS | Published : August 16, 2013 10:29 AM IST
Over a dozen school children aged between five and ten years took ill in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh after eating biscuits served at the Independence Day function, police said. The incident occurred on Thursday at the Gyandeep Shishu Mandir in the Harduaganj area. An initial probe found that the biscuits were well past the expiry date printed on the package, Circle Officer (CO) Qwarsi M.K. Saxena told IANS. A case of carelessness was registered against the school management, he said. Police said the biscuit packets were distributed to the children soon after the flag hoisting ceremony in the school. Some children started vomiting and complained of stomach ache. As the news spread, police and concerned parents rushed to the school and the children were taken to a nearby medical facility. All the children were discharged from the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Hospital after about an hour. The thing is that all food items - packaged or otherwise comes with an expiry date.
When will we stop treating our children with such callousness?
The can of worms that was opened after the Bihar Midday Meal tragedy which took the lives of 23 children seems to be of unfathomable depth as we keep on getting media reports every day about children falling ill after eating food or things served during functions. Has our system become so corrupt that callousness about the safety of children all over the country is secondary to make a few bucks? How ironic that this incident happened after Independence Day celebrations. This trend has to be reined in the corrupt punished if we ever hope to be a country that our forefathers dreamt of.
All food items have an expiry date
When you buy food articles, you probably look at the price label; do you also look for the expiry date? Generally mentioned as Use by or Use Before or Best Before , these dates are an indication of the duration for which the food is of good quality in terms of taste and flavour. The term Expiry date refers to the nutritional value and safety if you choose to consume food that is past its expiry date, you run the risk of exposing your body to food that has been spoilt. (Read on to find out more about the dangers of eating foods with an expiry date.) Is it too hard for the organisers to do the same or are they just worried about getting rid of expired foods?
With inputs from IANS
