BOX8 booked over food poisoning of college students
An FIR was registered on Friday against BOX8, a catering and food delivery service, for providing food, which allegedly led to over 20 students attending an event on Thursday being diagnosed with food poisoning.
The FIR was registered after students, attending a programme for awareness regarding India’s permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, fell seriously ill.
The programme was organised by Model United Nations and was held at four city colleges simultaneously, with the food delivery contract given to BOX8 for all the events. The event started at around 10 am and broke for lunch in the afternoon when the students were served the pre-packed food boxes. Soon after, students attending the event at Lala Lajpatrai College in Mahalaxmi and Thadomal Sahani Engineering College in Khar started feeling uneasy and nauseous and were rushed to various hospitals near the colleges.
Sources said around 100 students in both colleges were rushed to the hospital, with many of them discharged soon. Out of these, around 20 are still recuperating.
An official of the Khar police, which is investigating the case, said, “The organisers had placed an online order for the food through the mobile app of the company. The food was cooked in the kitchen of BOX8 located at Thane and was then transported to the said locations in packets.”
The Tardeo police, which is assisting the investigation over the incident at Lala Lajpatrai College, has collected the food samples from the packets and sent them to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Initial statement from the company to the police allegedly claims that the food was freshly cooked and sent from their kitchen in Thane. The Khar police is planning to interrogate the staffers and management of the company.
In a statement, BOX8 said, “BOX8 maintains a rigorous quality process through preparation of food and delivery system, including tasting the food before serving, which too was followed yesterday without any adverse results. Matter is being inquired by the authorities and we have been fully co-operating to identify the cause. Once the cause is identified, Box8 will spare no efforts to deal with the same.”
Rishabh Shah, organiser of the event, said, “BOX8 have brought disrepute to young India but more than that jeopardised the health and well-being of the future of this country. Such a menace should not only be penalised but it should be shut.”
