TN govt to inspect hotels after girl dies of food poisoning

Chennai, Sep 20 : The food department of Tamil Nadu will conduct raids in hotels across the state after a 14-year-old girl died of food poisoning in Namakkal district a couple of days ago.

State health Minister Ma Subramanian has ordered the food department officials to conduct raids to find out the violators.

The minister directed officials to check whether the restaurants were following food safety guidelines.The quality of the food served will be checked and those will be fined where sub-standard food is served, said the minister.

The state health minister in a statement said the restaurants which are not meeting the prescribed quality will either be sealed or their license forfeited depending on the offence.

The food department of Tamil Nadu had conducted raids and inspections in many hotels from April to August and 1894 cases were filed.A fine of around Rs 1.55 crore was collected from these erring hotels.

The Minister in the statement said that the lab report of the food samples which was collected from the Namakkal restaurant will be available by this weekend.

A 14-year-old girl, D.Kalairasi from A.S.Pettai in Namakkal town, had dined at a restaurant in the Paramathi road in Namakkal town along with her parents, Dhavakumar, Sujatha, brother D.Boopathi and other family members on September 16.However, the girl developed pain and was admitted to a local hospital.On Monday, September 18, the girl passed away.

aal/dpb