Bengaluru: Over 20 Students Fall Sick After Eating Mid-day Meal At Government School

25 students of a government school in Bengaluru had to be hospitalized as they complained of stomach ache and vomiting after eating mid-day meal on Monday, reported The New Indian Express.

The incident took place at the Government Lower Primary School at Nimbekaipura near KR Puram at around 1 pm. Twenty minutes after eating puliyogare rice and rava payasam, children complained of a headache and at least nine children vomited. According to teachers, one child fell ill first and very soon the others also started feeling uneasy. As per the Times of India, the school’s lone teacher, with the help of locals, rushed all the 25 students to Srinivasa Hospital, Hoskote and they were all discharged in the evening.

The food was sent by Akshaya Patra Foundation which also supplies food to 4.49 lakh students in government and aided schools across the state. The same food was sent to all other schools the foundation serves and no such cases were reported from any of the schools.

The foundation issued a statement saying “It has come to our knowledge that eight beneficiary children were taken ill after allegedly consuming mid-day meals provided by us. The meals served to this school were cooked at our centralized unit in Vasanthpura. All our centralized kitchens follow high standards of hygiene, food safety, and quality”. The foundation also said that the Vasanthpura centre is an ISO 22000 Food Safety Management System compliant facility.

South Bengaluru block education officer(BEO) Salim Pasha said that food samples have been sent to the laboratory for analysis.

Similar incidents

On an unfortunate day in Hampi Nagar at Ballari district, Karnataka, a boy found a dead lizard in the food served under mid-day meal programme. Almost 90 students from Gaddikeri government high school were admitted to a government hospital after consuming the food.

As students sat to eat the meal served in school on December 12, they didn’t imagine that they would land up unwell in hospital. Students were being served pulav, which was cooked on the school campus for lunch. A boy found the lizard and sprung up in shock and the entire room went into a frenzy. After the food was distributed to children, nearly 87 students threw up complaining of stomach ache and vomiting.

Also read: Karnataka: Almost 90 Kids Fall Sick As Dead Lizard Surfaces In Mid-Day Meal