Over 120 hospitalised in Mathura after food poisoning on Janmashtami

More than 120 people, including women and children, were hospitalised in Mathura due to suspected food poisoning after eating food items made from buckwheat flour (kuttu ka atta) on Janmashtami, news agency PTI reported on Tuesday, citing officials.
The suspected food poisoning incident was reported from several villages of the Farah police station area in Mathura last night. All victims are stable, the officials said.
“We had fritters made from buckwheat flour last night. After that, I started vomiting and felt a burning sensation in my stomach,” PTI quoted Priyanka, a teenager admitted to the government hospital as saying.
Pritam Singh, a resident of Parkham village accompanying a patient, said that after consuming the fritters, people complained of dizziness and vomiting.
“The buckwheat flour was purchased from a local shop in the village,” he added.
Mahesh, another resident, told PTI, “My wife has become very weak, almost unconscious.”
According to officials, affected individuals—most of whom were fasting on the occasion of Janmashtami—experienced symptoms such as vomiting, dizziness, and shivering after eating ‘puris’ and ‘pakoras’ containing the flour.
Dr Bhudev Prasad, in charge of the Health Department’s Rapid Response Team, said that several villages in the Farah police station area received complaints of food poisoning during the night.
“Teams from the Health Department, Farah Community Health Centre (CHC), and District Hospital responded swiftly. Initially, patients were treated at the CHC, but as numbers increased, they were moved to the District Hospital, the 100-bed Joint Hospital in Vrindavan, and SN Medical College in Agra,” PTI quoted Prasad as
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Ajay Kumar Verma said 43 patients have been admitted to the SN Medical College Hospital in Agra, 29 to the District Hospital in Mathura, 15 to the 100-bed Combined Hospital, 15 to Baba Jaigurudev Charitable Hospital, 10 to Chauhan Hospital and others have been admitted to the CHC in Farah.
“Patients showing improvement today will be discharged,” he added.
The affected individuals are from Parkham, Baroda, Mirzapur, Makhdoom, and Khairat villages. They had purchased the buckwheat flour from two suppliers, Jhagdu and Rajkumar, who had sourced their goods from major grocery merchants in Farah.
Following the incident, District Magistrate Shailendra Kumar Singh instructed the District Food and Drug Administration to raid and seal the suppliers’ shops. The department is collecting samples from shops in the area.