Food poisoning: Noon meal organizer, cook suspended

MADURAI: Two employees – a

noon meal programme

(NMP) organizer and a cook – were suspended after 19 students in a government-aided primary school on the outskirts of

Madurai

fell ill allegedly due to food poisoning after having lunch in the school on Tuesday.


A source in the district administration said the NMP organiser and the cook at the government-aided primary school at Velliyankundram were suspended at least until the food samples were tested.

The source

added that the students might have fallen sick after eating meal maker pulao served to them.

It was said that though no such incidence of food poisoning has been reported at least over the past two-and-a-half years, officials in the district administration have been asked to be on alert. “In order to ensure that such cases are avoided in the near future too, block division officers (BDOs) have been asked to stay on alert and conduct investigations at all the schools where NMP is provided,” the source told TOI.

In

Madurai district

, NMP is provided at 1,446 schools.

Meanwhile, all the 19 children, who were admitted to the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH), were discharged on Wednesday morning. “Only one girl required IV fluids. She is alright now. Along with her, all the others were also kept under observation and were discharged,” dean of GRH Dr K Vanitha said.

It may be recalled that several students at the Velliyankundram school complained of nausea after having lunch served at the school, out of which a few even vomited. All of them were immediately taken to the nearby primary health centre (PHC) by the teachers, and among them, 19 were referred to the GRH for further treatment.