Stale 'Ngari' likely cause of food poisoning: Director
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, June 16 2022:
Health Services director Dr K Rajo said that though samples of all the ingredients used in making the fried dish were collected and sent for testing, stale 'Ngari' (fermented fish) might be the likely cause of the food poisoning case that claimed life of a person and hospitalisation of three others.
Addressing a press meet at Manipur Press club here on Thursday, Dr Rajo said that a food safety team of Imphal East district carried out enquiry into the case after they learnt about the incident from a state daily.
During the enquiry, the team found that five persons consumed the dish on Monday morning and four of them developed symptoms of food poisoning such as vomiting, loose motion and mild fever at around 7 pm on that day.
He also said that one Thokchom Hemanta of the same locality bought 1 kg of the same Sebot (sponge guard) from the same vendor on the same day from Kongba Keithel on June 9 .
Hemanta's family consumed the Sebot on June 9 itself by preparing Ironba dish and no such incidents of food poisoning occurred to them.
The team took samples of all the ingredients used in making the dish consumed by Longjam family and found the Ngari used in the dish to be stale with fungal growth and infested by small worms.
The department is in process to conduct test of the samples at the food safety laboratory of the department.
They will also send the sample for testing to labs in other states if required.
However, there are high possibilities of the stale Ngari being the source of food poisoning due to presence of Clostridium botulinum bacteria, which cause a severe form of food poisoning called botulism, he explained.