Food was contaminated

20 students had fallen ill after breakfast at Adi-Dravidar hostel

Microbiological tests have confirmed the presence of bacterial organisms in food consumed by students on July 31 at the Government Adi-Dravidar hostel in Pollachi near here. Twenty students had fallen sick immediately after consuming breakfast at the hostel.

Official sources said on Wednesday that the samples of cooked food and raw food materials were taken from the kitchen immediately after the students complained of stomach ache, nausea, vomiting, and dysentery.

The source of these bacterial organisms was likely to be flies and insects, which were indicative of open air defecation near the kitchen, the sources said.

After the students took ill, all noon meal centres in Government schools were asked to improve hygiene in and around kitchens and ensure safe food.

The cooked food was tested at Microbiology laboratory of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital whereas the testing of raw material standards was performed at the Government Food Analysis Laboratory here run by the Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration Department (Food Safety Wing). Sources in the Food Safety Wing said that the raw food material was found to be safe and fit for consumption.

When contacted, Director of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes D. Venkatesan, who had visited the hostel on July 31, told The Hindu over phone from New Delhi that an action-taken report had been sought from the State Government on this issue.

The commission had submitted a set of recommendations to the State Government requesting a directive to all district administrations to check the raw food material supplied to the State Government hostels for Adi Dravida students.

Microbiologist

The sources added that a microbiologist has been posted at the Government Food Analysis Laboratory in Coimbatore.

This post had been lying vacant for more than four years and had prevented the Food Safety Wing officials from taking samples of cooked food from Integrated Child Development Service Centres (ICDS) and noon meal centres in all government and aided schools despite a circular issued to this effect by the Tamil Nadu Food Safety Commissioner Kumar Jayanth on July 19.