FDA goofs up! Raids Box8 kitchen but picks up wrong samples of food items
FDA officials picked up rice and dal makhni, whereas parents claimed that the lunch the kids were served comprised fried rice and manchurian ball gravy. Photo courtesy: Mid Day
On Friday night, officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raided the Thane kitchen of Box8, the caterer for the Indian International Model United Nations (IIMUN) conference on Thursday whose lunch allegedly caused food poisoning among 300 to 400 participants.
The team collected samples of food that were to be sent to the lab for testing to ensure a stong case is build against the alleged offender. It was an imperative step to ascertain if the meal prepared by them had caused the food poisoning.
But the FDA goofed up! The officials picked up rice and dal makhni, when parents claimed that the lunch the kids were served comprised fried rice and manchurian ball gravy.
The Mumbai police, however, managed to get it right — on Thursday, and they collected samples of the food that was actually served at the four conference venues.
DCP and spokesperson for Mumbai Police, Dhananjay Kulkarni told media, “We have collected the exact food items that were served to the students by the organizers and the caterer. We have even collected the stomach wash of the students who took ill after consuming the food.”
Meanwhile, parents of affected students and organisers have locked horns over the food served at the venues. While students said that they had fried rice and manchurian ball gravy, IIMUN organisers claimed that they had asked Box8 to serve only an Indian fare of steamed rice and dal makhni.
Noted numerologist Sanjay Jumaani, whose daughter was among the students, confirmed to the media what the police said. “I rushed to the venue when she called up to complain of uneasiness. When I asked what she had eaten, she said she had had fried rice and manchurian gravy served to her.”
Whereas Hardik Jain, vice-president of IIMUN, |The organisers, though, felt that the food had turned so sour that the students wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between dal and mannchurian. “We had served dal makhni and rice to every student at all four centres,” he said.
