Twelve students from a school and an anganwadi centre in Kerala have been admitted to teh hospital due to suspected food poisoning. Eight students of a government upper primary school in Alappuzha district and four students of an anganwadi at Kottarakkara in Kollam district were admitted to nearby government hospitals.
The eight children from Alappuzha were taken to hospital on Saturday, June 4, after they complained of uneasiness due to a suspected case of food poisoning. The police said a few students went to the government hospital on Friday evening itself while others reached the next day.
"They are all under treatment. The doctors said their condition is stable," police told PTI.
The police said that as many as 575 people, including students and teachers, had the mid-day meal from the school on Friday. "There are 650 students studying in the school. On Friday, 575 people — teachers and students - had the mid-day meal from the school. Only eight of them have complained of uneasiness so far," police said.
Meanwhile, four students of an anganwadi at Kottarakkara in Kollam district were also admitted to a nearby hospital after they complained of uneasiness. Sources said that their condition is stable.
State Health Minister Veena George has asked the Food Safety Commissioner to look into both the incidents and file a report. "We need to find out whether the food poisoning happened inside the school or not. Also, we need to inspect whether the materials procured by the staff locally are of good quality or not," a senior official from the food safety department said.
Sources in the health department said the samples have been collected from both the places and testing will be conducted at the government food testing lab.
Earlier in May, a 16-year-old girl died of food poisoning and at least 40 others were hospitalised due to suspected food poisoning from an eatery in Kerala’s Kasaragod. The cause of the food poisoning was later found to be a bacterium called shigella.