Ninety-seven employees at a private company in north Bengaluru were hospitalised with suspected food poisoning after eating meals from their office canteen. This incident has brought the city's food safety issues back into the spotlight, especially following a recent report revealing significant lead contamination in vegetables sold in Bengaluru.
Ninety-seven employees of a private company in north Bengaluru were hospitalised earlier this week after falling ill with symptoms consistent with food poisoning, following meals served at the firm’s office canteen, officials said. According to Deccan Herald, the employees, working at a facility in Devanahalli, had idli and vada for breakfast and rice with sambar for lunch on Tuesday. By the evening, several started having diarrhoea, vomiting, and stomach discomfort; by Wednesday morning, a number of them needed to be admitted to the hospital.
The impacted workers received intravenous hydration treatment after being admitted to two private hospitals. Bengaluru Rural District Health Officer Dr. Krishna Reddy informed the magazine that no injuries had been recorded and that samples of leftover food had been gathered and sent for laboratory testing; the findings are still pending.
According to health officials, the case is being investigated for possible food poisoning, and the canteen's food production, storage, and cleanliness procedures are being looked at. Workers said that the lunches were standard foods that were frequently eaten at work. However, experts pointed out that if handled or kept improperly, fermented foods like idli batter might get contaminated, particularly in the heat.
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Authorities are awaiting test results to see whether bacterial contamination or other variables were involved, but they have not yet determined the exact source of the disease.
Contamination in Vegetables
Only a few months after the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) reported significant contamination in the city's vegetable supply, the event has brought Bengaluru's food safety issues back into the spotlight.
Following orders from the National Green Tribunal, a CPCB research revealed that 26% of vegetable samples taken from markets and agricultural belts supplying Bengaluru carried lead levels much beyond allowable limits, as News18 reported in February.
72 vegetable samples from prominent retail establishments such HOPCOMS and APMC markets, as well as locations like Nelamangala, Kolar, and Chikkaballapura, were tested for the study. Nineteen of the examined samples did not meet safety requirements, and several of them had severe contamination.
Lead levels in brinjals were discovered to be up to 20 times higher than allowed, while contamination levels in flat beans and small gourds were 9 and 18 times higher, respectively.
