Food poisoning incident in Coimbatore school: District collector suspends three midday meal staff members

COIMBATORE: Coimbatore district collector Pavankumar G Giriyappanavar on Wednesday issued suspension orders to three midday meal staff members after 44 students of a corporation middle school in Kavundampalayam fell ill after having lunch at the school on Tuesday.

According to the official sources, the collector ordered the suspension of the staff members involved in the preparation of the food and those who served it.

The district administration has instructed that all the schools and school kitchens in the district should be cleaned. The district collector told reporters that a special team had been constituted to inspect the hygiene, quality of food items and cooking practices in all schools.

Local block-level officers on Tuesday collected food samples from the Kavundampalayam school for testing. The results were yet to be known, officials said.

As many as 384 of the total 408 students at the Kavundampalayam school have lunch served at the school. However, on Wednesday, all the students brought food from home following Tuesday’s incident.

Political leaders, including AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and former Union minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, have raised safety concerns over the incident.

In a post on X, Palaniswami said, "How can a govt continue to show negligence in a vital programme like nutrition which deals with student life? Since 2021, the Stalin govt has been serving low-quality food without the slightest concern, but has put up advertisements asking, ‘How does sambar taste?’"

In a similar post on X, Anbumani questioned why chief minister M K Stalin or school education minister or the minister of social welfare had not issued any statement on the incident.

The post said, "The reason for this situation is that the kitchens of Coimbatore corporation schools are unsanitary and unmaintained. Even the basic procedure of checking the quality of food before serving it to students is not followed in this case. The DMK govt should be held responsible for this incident. Why has chief minister M K Stalin, who advertises whatever happens in Tamil Nadu as his achievement, not taken responsibility for this incident?"

The post further emphasised that the Chief Minister and the ministers of the relevant departments should apologise to the students affected by the incident, and that the govt should ensure that quality lunch is served in all schools.