Food poisoning: Health department issues advisory to hostels

MANGALURU: The health department in Dakshina Kannada has issued an advisory to all hostels in the district in the backdrop of food poisoning incidents that took place in college hostels recently.

DHO Dr H R Thimmaiah said that the hostels in the district have been asked to take all precautionary measures to prevent food poisoning incidents. “Hostels have been issued a set of 24 guidelines, which have to be fulfilled immediately and a compliance report should be submitted. Further, we have linked hostels to the nearest Public Health Centres (PHC) for strict monitoring. PHCs will monitor the kitchens of the hostels regularly,” the DHO said.

All hostels have been asked to prevent entry of unauthorised persons to their kitchens. They should ensure proper ventilation, fire extinguisher, regular servicing of water purifiers and get health check-ups done for cooks and food handlers once in six months. Hostels should ensure that the workers wear aprons, hand gloves and caps. They are also instructed to ensure proper disposal of wastewater, cleanliness of kitchen, storeroom, sanitise vessels in hot water and avoid adulterated food stuff and expired products,” Thimmaiah said.

A meeting of all hostel wardens has been convened on Tuesday where they will be given instructions to strictly adhere to the guidelines, he said.

On the lab tests on samples collected from two hostels recently, the DHO said that the report is awaited. “Action will be taken against the persons concerned based on the lab reports. The hostel in Valachil, where food poisoning was reported recently, was already shut and permission will be given to reopen it after they get a report of water testing.

A negligence complaint was booked against a group of institutions in the city last year after several students fell ill following a food poisoning incident,” the DHO said.
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