18 fall ill after consuming sweets at family function in Jbp

Jabalpur: Eighteen members of a Patel family from Narsinghpur district were hospitalised after allegedly consuming contaminated sweets purchased from a shop in Jabalpur. One of them is said to be critical and was referred to Nagpur for advance treatment. According to relatives, the family organised a ‘Suhagla' ritual at the Tripur Sundari temple on Wednesday. For the occasion, they bought around 4 kg of sweets from a sweet shop located at Bhedaghat Chowk in Jabalpur. The sweets were later distributed as prasad among family members. Soon after consuming the sweets, several members complained of vomiting and diarrhoea. As their condition worsened, they were admitted to the Community Health Centre in Gotegaon, and some were shifted to hospitals in Jabalpur. Indrapal Patel, 44, whose condition turned critical, was referred to a hospital in Nagpur. Among those admitted are Neeraj Patel (40), Dilip Patel (42), Geeta Patel (35), Kailash Patel (58), Rishikesh Patel (26), Mamta Patel (55), Rupali Patel (30), Ramratan Patel (77), Batti Patel (72), Ramsharan Patel (68), Aarti Patel (34) and her 2 children. Vijay Patel (61) and his wife are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Gotegaon. Rohit Patel, a relative of the family, said all affected members are currently under medical supervision. "We informed Bhedaghat police about the incident. The priority right now is their treatment," he said. Food department officials initiated an inquiry. In-charge Devendra Dubey said that, under the leadership of SDM Madan Singh Raghuvanshi, samples of pista barfi were collected from the sweet shop and sent to a laboratory in Bhopal for testing. "Further action will be taken as per law once the lab report is received," Dubey said. Police said they are awaiting the food safety report to determine the further course of action.