Eleven die, more than 90 fall sick after eating temple food in India

[rooster59]

Eleven die, more than 90 fall sick after eating temple food in India

 

Scores of sick people were taken to a hospital in India after consuming food at a temple. 

 

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Eleven people including two children died and more than 90 were hospitalised after consuming a religious food offering at a temple in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, police said on Saturday, calling it a suspected case of mass food poisoning.

 

Two people have been questioned in connection with the incident on Friday, after devotees fell ill when they ate tomato rice at a Hindu temple. Many people are still being treated for vomiting, diarrhoea and respiratory diseases.

 

Media reports in India said the suspected food poisoning was the result of pesticide contamination but police said it was too early to draw conclusions about the cause.

 

"We have sent the organs of the dead people and the poisoned food to the forensic laboratory," Geetha MS, a senior police officer in the Chamarajanagara district where the temple is located, told Reuters. "Only after receiving the report can we say what went wrong."

 

Several crows and dogs were also found dead after eating the food, Geetha added.

 

In 2013, 23 school children died in the eastern state of Bihar in one of the worst outbreaks of mass food poisoning in the country. Police had suspected that it was caused by cooking oil that had been kept in a container previously used to store pesticide.

 

The Karnataka government would provide financial assistance of 500,000 rupees ($6,953.14) to the families of each of the dead, according to media reports.

 

($1 = 71.9100 Indian rupees)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-16

[Scott]

Off-topic post removed.  

 

[natway09]

Stone the crows!!! If it killed crows it must have been really bad

[Burma Bill]

There is a long WHO list of pesticides that could cause such dreadful symptoms but two groups caught my interest - Arsenicals and Organophosphates. RIP the deceased diners. 

[Pedrogaz]

When I think if India all I can think of diarrhoea and people doing their business in the street. It is one place I have absolutely zero desire to go.....indeed wild horse would drag me there. 

[Cereal]

I thought eating street food (temple food) in India and diarrhea went hand in hand.

 

I agree with Pedrogaz above. In fact I've turned down 2 all expense paid trips to India. No desire to see it in the slightest.

[bendejo]

This thread should be linked to

 

Having lived in India for a while back in my younger days I can vouch for all the horror stories regarding health.  Since I retired and began roaming the planet again that whole region between Burma and Iran is beyond consideration due to health hazards.  Unfortunately this includes Nepal, which is even filthier than India.

 

The Sikh temple at Amritsar is known for serving free meals to all, and they are conscious of cleanliness.  However, you sit and eat with your plate on the floor, and 50cm away people are walking past you, and the floor is probably wet (splash-splash).

 

 

 

[gk10002000]

5 hours ago, Pedrogaz said:

When I think if India all I can think of diarrhoea and people doing their business in the street. It is one place I have absolutely zero desire to go.....indeed wild horse would drag me there. 

I so want to visit Bodghaya, and some other sites in India, but the "Delhi Belly" and other things really are a turn off.  And their visa application process does not guarantee whether they will give you the 5 year or the 10 year visa after you apply and send them money.  Anytime I am confronted with an open ended or un-defined contract, I shy away in general.

[balo]

Even if I have lived in Thailand for many years , I have never been tempted to visit India. It's only a cheap air fare away, but I am just not interested.

I am sure some parts of India are nice and the people are friendly, but not for me. 

 

[attrayant]

Organophosphates confirmed:

 

NEW DELHI - A toxic pesticide that a U.N. agency wanted India to ban a decade ago contaminated food that killed at least 15 people at a temple last week, police said on Tuesday.

 

More than 100 also had to go to hospital after devotees consumed portions of tomato rice blessed at the Hindu temple in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

 

A senior police officer told Reuters laboratory tests showed the presence of monocrotophos — a pesticide that attacks the nerves — in food and vomit samples.

 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/19/world/science-health-world/toxic-pesticide-u-n-urged-banned-found-temple-food-killed-15-india/#.XBsIK3QzZFE