School boy in India falls ill after consuming noodles

The noodle brand consumed did not come under the list of brands recently banned by the state government, an official said.

Cuddalore - A 10-year-old boy took ill after consuming a pack of noodles, following which the entire consignment of over 700 packets were seized from the retailer, a food safety officer said on Monday.

S Arun Kumar, a fifth standard student of Tiruchopuram in Kurinjipadi Union near here, had noodles for dinner on Sunday and soon after began vomiting, besides having seizures.

He was treated by a local physician and later taken to General Hospital here.

“The boy began vomitting and took ill after consuming noodles. He was admitted in General Hospital,” M P Raja, Food Safety Officer, Cuddalore District, told PTI.

The noodle brand consumed did not come under the list of brands recently banned by the state government, he said, adding, 714 packets of the brand were seized from the retail outlet from where it was purchased.

Hospital authorities said the “boy is now all right.” “He was given symptomatic treatment for vomitting and seizures (fits). He was referred to our hospital with symptoms of vomitting followed by seizures,” a doctor said, requesting anonymity.

“May be the noodles the boy had could have been contaminated and he fell sick,” the doctor said.

On his seizures, the doctor said the boy has a history of the ailment.

Raja said, “After enquiries, unsold packets of the noodle brand consumed by the boy was seized from a retail outlet and samples have been sent to Chennai for testing.”

On June 4, Tamil Nadu government had banned Nestle’s Maggi, Wai Wai Xpress Noodles, Reliance Select Instant Noodles, Smith and Jones Chicken Masala Noodles due to high levels of lead and companies were ordered to recall stocks.

In the past one week, about 10.5 tonnes of several noodle brands were seized from retail outlets in five municipalities and 13 panchayat unions in Cuddalore District, Raja said.