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29 March 2024

Austistic child did not die of food poisoning: Dubai Municipality

Al Baraha Hospital(Supplied)

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By Staff

Food Control Department of Dubai municipality has issued a statement on the food poisoning of the Indian family and death of their 9-year-old [austistic] child in Dubai on Saturday.

Khalid Mohammed Sherif, Head of Food Control Department, said that a notification was received from Muraqqabat Police Station, through DM call centre on Saturday April 21st, indicating that there was suspected food poisoning of an Indian family and their relative which led to the death of their son at Bahara Hospital in Dubai.

Sequence of Events:

Khalid said that the foodborne investigation team went to the hospital in coordination with Dubai Police where the team conducted an investigation with the family. The team could learn that the family – accompanied by one of their relatives - had a meal at one of the restaurants in Dubai on Friday April 20th, at about 6pm.

At about 9pm the family had different foods at their home after they came from the restaurant. The mother and the deceased child suffered from the symptoms first on Saturday April 21st at about 2am. The symptoms were limited to vomiting, nausea, dizziness and mild diarrhea. The father suffered from the same symptoms on Saturday at about 4am, whereas the other child suffered only from vomiting on Saturday at about 4am.

“The relative of the family did not suffer from any symptoms, and he was not staying at their home. The team visited the family’s apartment accompanied by Dubai Police.
No food remains were found. However, unknown substances were found and submitted to Dubai Police Laboratory for analysis, Sherif said.

“The family indicated that the unknown substances were herbal medicine used to stop the vomiting and diarrhea. The family also indicated that the deceased child was using ayurvedic medicine because he has speech problems, Sherif added.

Bobby Krishna, Senior Food Studies and Surveys Officer, said that according to the preliminary report, the foodborne investigation team thinks the cause of the symptoms and death was not due to food poisoning for the following reasons:

1. The symptoms suffered by the family and the deceased child are typical of toxins (either biological or chemical).
2. The symptoms appeared after 8 hours from taking the common meal and 5 hours from taking the foods at home. It is documented that the bacterial toxins cause the poisoning after one hour (on average) from taking the foods which are suspected to cause the food poisoning.
3. The relative of the family didn't suffer from any food poisoning symptoms although he ate the same meal from the restaurant which the only common meal taken by the family and their relative.
4. Neither the Food Control Department nor Dubai Health Authority received any notification from the restaurant at which the common meal was taken. It is worth mentioning that the restaurant has sold the same meal to 19 customers on the same day.
5. Results of inspecting the said restaurant have shown that the restaurant complied with the food safety standards which are approved by Dubai Municipality.

“The foodborne investigation team will be on alert and will coordinate with Dubai Police and Baraha Hospital to resolve this issue to know the reasons for the above mentioned symptoms and the death of the child,” Bobby said.