NITK temporarily suspends non-veg food, paneer in hostels

Mangaluru: NITK Surathkal, the country's leading technical institution, has suspended providing eggs, meat products, and paneer across all its hostel facilities, following incidents of food poisoning among inmates. An official advisory regarding this has been issued to all hostels.
Officials reported that since Friday last week, more than 50 hostel residents experienced symptoms including vomiting, diarrhoea, and gastrointestinal problems. Cases continue to be reported on the campus. As per the advisory, hostels will not serve eggs, meat, and paneer from Jan 18 to 26. The institute extended these dietary restrictions to its campus canteens as well, where bakery products and non-vegetarian food items have been temporarily discontinued. Students are also discouraged from eating out or taking food parcels from outside.
Pushparaj Shetty D, professor in-charge (hostels), NITK Surathkal, said that the campus has several hostels serving both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food to its over 7,000 inmates, both boys and girls. "In the past few days, inmates across all hostels complained of vomiting, diarrhoea, and gastritis. Initially, we thought that such complaints were arising from just one hostel, but now they have come from all hostels. So far, about 50 of them complained, and numbers are still increasing. We took precautionary measures, and all food samples were sent for testing. The inmates have been requested to drink hot water, avoid street food, uncooked food, and ordering from outside through food delivery platforms until the situation stabilises," he explained.
Officials at the institution expressed worry about potential food poisoning cases, noting that the issue cannot be solely attributed to hostel meals. They pointed out that students frequently consume food from various restaurants near the campus and across the city. "External factors, such as students eating outside food, might be contributing to the problem," he said.