Over 120 hospitalised after food poisoning in Mathura

Mathura, August 27

Over 120 persons, including women and children, were hospitalised due to food poisoning after consuming items made from buckwheat flour in Mathura district, officials said on Tuesday.

A team from the District Food and Drug Administration raided and sealed the shops of two vendors supplying the contaminated buckwheat flour (kuttu atta), they said, adding that a case had been registered against them.

The incident was reported from several villages in the Farah police station area of Mathura district last night. All victims are stable, the officials said. The affected individuals, who were fasting on the occasion of Janmashtami, experienced symptoms such as vomiting, dizziness and shivering after eating “puris” and “pakodas” containing the flour.

“We had fritters made from buckwheat flour last night. After that, I started vomiting and felt a burning sensation in my stomach,” said Priyanka, a teenager admitted to the government hospital.

“The buckwheat flour was purchased from a local shop in the village,” he added.

Dr Bhudev Prasad, in-charge of the Rapid Response Team of the Health Department, said complaints of food poisoning were received from several villages in the Farah police station area during the night.

“Teams from the Health Department, Farah CHC and District Hospital responded swiftly. Initially, patients were treated at the CHC. When the number increased, they were moved to the District Hospital, the 100-bed Joint Hospital in Vrindavan, and SN Medical College in Agra,” he said.