5 taken ill after consuming instant noodles, FIR lodged

Shillong, Jul 6: Five persons including four minors of a family were hospitalised after they consumed ready-to-eat noodles here, a senior police officer said today.

"An FIR was lodged by the father of the children and since it is a non-cognisable case, we are moving court for approval," East Khasi Hills district SP (City) Vivek Syiem said.

The siblings, residents of Lawsohtun area in the city, started complaining of severe headache and started vomiting soon after consuming the ready-to-eat noodles bought from a local market yesterday afternoon, the officer at Laban police station said.

"Three of them were admitted to Ganesh Das Hospital and the other two were rushed to Shillong Civil Hospital for immediate medical attention," Deputy Commissioner of Food Safety S N Sangma said.

The Food Safety office has taken samples of the vomit and leftover of the noodles for a detailed test and has also ordered an inquiry into the incident, Sangma said. Not ruling out food poisoning, Sangma said the children were reported to be in stable condition today, but a detailed inquiry was needed to find out the reason for their sickness. "Prima facie they ate some noodles.

We are to ascertain what kind of noodles, their date of manufacturing and whether they are safe," he said. The incident was the first such case after Maggi was banned in the state last month for high content of MSG and lead.

At least 36 samples of various kinds of instant noodles imported from Singapore, Nepal and Thailand have been sent for tests at the Guwahati-based Public Health Laboratory for testing, state government officials said.

PTI