The death of hotel management graduate Sachin Roy Mathew in Bengaluru on Monday, after taking food from a city joint here, throws up searing questions over the quality of food sold at eateries and systemic deficiencies that aid rampant violation of food safety norms in Kerala. The Centre has given time till August 4 to officials to brief owners of shops, restaurants and hotels on stringent provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act. But the Act has been set in motion already. Under the Act, it is mandatory for the-more-than 5 lakh-odd shops, including hotels and restaurants, to obtain license after furnishing their establishment details. However, most shops have not obtained the license on the pretext that the grace period goes up to August.
Official sources said the business of licensing under the previous Food Adulteration Act used to be sham. Local bodies used to issue licences, based official routine inspections. The system is being overhauled. Apart from fielding food safety commissioners in the state, zones and districts, the Government has appointed 14 district food safety officers and 96 food inspectors. But there is still a shortage of 100 food inspectors.
Officials point out that violations could be checked effectively only by the strict enforcement of the Act. Under the new law, proprietors of unlicensed hotels or restaurants are liable to pay Rs 1 lakh fine or face jail up to six months. Even for offences like selling substandard goods, eatables (not injurious to health), the shop owner is liable to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh. Those selling food that causes minor injury are liable to 3 years imprisonment and major injury up to 7 years imprisonment. In the case of death, the violator is liable for a lifer.
But a major handicap has been the shortage of analytical labs for testing food samples. There are only three such labs though authorities promise new ones in each district soon. For now, there's nothing much happening on the ground that suggests strict enforcement of law. But authorities have claimed the opposite, saying screws have been tightened despite the grace period till August.
Confirmation only after getting reports from Bengaluru
A food safety vigilance squad left for Bengaluru on Tuesday to collect more details regarding the death of Sachin Roy Mathew. The Commissioner of Food Safety is yet to confirm that the death was caused by food poisoning. "We’ll confirm only after getting details from Bengaluru," the Joint Food Safety Commissioner, Mr K Anil Kumar, said. “We’re trying to find out if Sachin disclosed anything about the food or the shop to anyone after his condition deteriorated,” he said. A food safety vigilance squad visited Sachin's family in Mavelikara on Tuesday. When asked about food samples, Mr Kumar said the complaint was received two days after the incident, making it difficult to get samples. “We’ve sought the pathology report from the hospital where other victims were treated”, he said. All other persons down with food poisoning have been discharged from hospitals. “They (the hotel) had not taken the license from the designated food safety officer and they’ve not produced the license from the corporation”, said Mr Kumar.
‘White/ Yellow paste may have toxins’
Food poisoning is a common, usually mild, but sometimes fatal illness. According to doctors, the youth might have had shawarma contaminated with toxins produced by staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Sachin probably died as he did not get hydrated well and went into a shock after blood volume came down and there was a huge fluid loss. “In this case symptoms were visible 57 hours after consuming the food. The toxin caused abdominal pain, fever and vomiting. The toxin was in the white paste used with shawarma or yellow oily paste applied on the meat,’’ said gastroenterologist, Dr K T Shenoy. Typical food poisoning symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, fever, chills and diarrhea that occur suddenly (within 48 hours) after consuming contaminated food or drink. The severity depends on the contaminant.
Lunch turns sour for techies at Kochi
A merry lunch hosted by a prominent Infopark company turned sour for 45 of its staffers on Thursday barely hours after they had left the hotel, located 100 meters from Infopark in Kakkanad. “We had buffet lunch but within hours some felt terrible body pain and headache while others developed fever and began to vomit.”
“We realized it was food poisoning only on Monday after the weekend”, said an employee of the company.
The hotel in question is one frequented by techies and companies. “We’ve complained (e-mail) to high-ups against the food-poisoning and a probe is on at the HR Level,” he said. About 15 of the staff are still on leave and five among them had to take injections. When questioned, the restaurant authorities denied it was food-poisoning.“They claim that it’s not due to the food but possibly water we’d taken elsewhere. But that’s unlikely,” the techie said.
What to watch out for
* Call Doc in case of any signs: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea that lasts more than two days. Abdominal symptoms with fever, can’t take medicines due to vomiting, slurred speech, muscle weakness, double vision, swallowing difficulty. Reach nearest casualty in conditions like dizziness, light-headed feeling, vision problem, sharp cramping pain that lasts more than 10 to 15 minutes.
* Food poisoning self care at home: Do not eat solid food but drink plenty of fluids, take small frequent sips of clear liquid to stay hydrated. Avoid alcoholic, caffeinated or sugary drinks. Home remedies: Tea with lemon and ginger for symptom relief. Initially consider eating rice, wheat bread and potato. Main treatment for food poisoning is replenishing fluids by rehydration intravenously / drinking plenty of water.
* Food poisoning prevention: Safe steps in food handling, cooking and storage essential to avoid food-borne diseases. Bacteria cannot be seen smelled or treated and they maybe on any food.
Kerala helpline: 1800-4251125
The office of the Commissioner of Food Safety has set up a helpline - 1800-4251125 for all food-related complaints. It is a toll-free number for complaints, which will be forwarded to district
officers concerned. After officer hours and on Sundays, only complaint recording facility is available.
officers concerned. After officer hours and on Sundays, only complaint recording facility is available.
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