Kerala: 40 Hotels Shut, 62 Fined After Nurse Dies From Food Poisoning

A nurse working at the medical college hospital in Kottayam died of food poisoning. A 33-year-old nurse Reshmi Raj ordered an Arabian chicken dish “al faham” on December 29 when she got food poisoning. Later she was hospitalized where she was declared to be in a serious condition and died on Monday.

Following the incident, the Kerala food safety department officials on Tuesday shut down 40 hotels, and imposed a fine on 62, while other 28 were given a warning after raids were conducted across the state. Members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, ruling CPI(M)’s youth outfit attacked the “Hotel Park” in Kottayam.

Food safety officials have also suspended the license of the hotel and ordered it to shut down. Moreover, 20 others who consumed the food from the same hotel took medical aid in different hospitals.

“We will get a clear picture only after the post-mortem. It is true in many cases mayonnaise which is consumed along with some of these foreign dishes becomes stale easily triggering food poisoning. And minced meat also creates problems if it is not cooked at high temperature,” said assistant food commissioner in Kottayam C R Randeep.