News analysis | Kerala food poisoning incident brings into focus importance of hygiene
The Hindu
A 16-year-old girl died after consuming shawarma, a dish of Arabic origin
The death of a 16-year-old girl, Devananda, following acute food poisoning at Cheruvathur in Kasaragod district, has brought into sharp focus the importance of maintaining utmost hygiene and care when preparing and handling food.
Not just Devananda, over 30 people, mostly schoolchildren, who had consumed the same food item – chicken wrap or shawarma, a dish of Arabic origin – were hospitalised at the same time with symptoms of acute food poisoning.
It is the consumption of contaminated food that causes food poisoning. Contamination can happen when improperly cooked food, especially of animal origin, is kept exposed in air. Keeping raw food along with cooked food can also lead to contamination, apart from the presence of bacteria, viruses or parasites.
Contaminated water used to wash food items or vegetables can also lead to contamination of food.
In Kasaragod, it was shawarma, consumed by children and many others, which has been incriminated in the food poisoning incident. While one child died at the hospital, several others fell seriously ill. Three children had to be admitted to the intensive care unit, with two of them suffering from acute kidney injury (AKI) and another developing cardiac issues.
This is not the first time shawarma is taking the rap for being the prime agent in food poisoning incidents. In 2012, a young student, who had eaten shawarma he had packed as dinner while on a journey from Thiruvananthapuram to Bangalore, died following a severe bout of food poisoning. In subsequent years too, in many food poisoning incidents in the State, food safety officials had zoomed in on shawarma as the agent of food poisoning.
In most cases, officials had pinpointed mayonnaise served with the shawarma to be the culprit in delivering salmonella poisoning, the most common bacterial agent causing food poisoning, to people.
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