KOCHI: The Food Safety Department is yet to confirm food poisoning in the incident in which youth Rahul D Nair who had shawarma from a restaurant in Kakkanad was hospitalised.
“As per reports, the youth ate the shawarma on October 18, and the relatives filed the complaint on October 23. No other complaints of food poisoning have been filed from the eatery. Normally, an eatery, especially one that sells shawarma, would get more than 100 orders per day. If it is food poisoning, multiple cases must have been reported at hospitals. So far, we have not received any other cases. Hence, it is difficult to list this incident as that of food poisoning,” said John Vijayakumar, deputy commissioner of food safety, Ernakulam.
He said food samples collected from the restaurant have been sent for testing. “We are awaiting the medical report to certify it as food poisoning before proceeding further,” Vijayakumar said.
He said the department has been conducting regular inspections at eateries in the district following a spurt in deaths due to food poisoning. The hygiene and safety in the eateries have significantly improved following the inspections, Vijayakumar said.