Dakshina Kannada district health department has sent samples of fish to the forensic lab in Bengaluru for testing after dozens of people fell sick after consuming fish heads on Friday.
On Friday night and until Saturday morning, dozens of people in the Ullal area, on the outskirts of Mangaluru, began to pour into hospitals after consuming a locally caught fish. Most were treated as outpatients at four hospitals in the area and were discharged within a few hours.
The source is said to be an exporter who had sold off fish heads which are not part of the export industry.
District Health Officer Ramakrishna Rao told The News Minute that the people who fell sick had all cooked the fish in their own homes and that they had taken some samples and sent them to the FSL in Bengaluru.
He was not aware of which fish it was.
Ramakrishna said that when he visited the four hospitals on Saturday night, there were 48 patients listed in the four hospitals put together. However, media reports suggest a higher figure.
Former Dean of the Fisheries College, Basavaraju told The News Minute that such instances of poisoning were rare, and that the source of contamination was usually ascertained by figuring out the source of the fish.
In many cases, he said that it was also likely that the fish could not have been stored properly and thereby may have caused food poisoning.
