By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
As victims of flood in nine local government areas of kogi state await the receding of water to normal level for them to pick pieces of their life again and move on,seven members of a family in the state have died after consuming food suspected to have been poisoned.
The Police Public Relations Officer PPRO for the Police Command in the state,SP William Ovye Aya, confirmed the tragic event in a telephone interview with the Correspondent of The Reporters in Lokoja on Tuesday.
“The command received the report of some members of a family that died after consuming food suspected to have been poisoned.
” Five members were said to have died initially but we later got another report that showed two more have died,”he said.
Our Correspondent gathered that the incident,coming few days after four family members died mysteriously in Mopa-Muro Local Government Area of the state during weekend, happened on Monday evening in Nagazi, Adavi Local Government Area of the State.
According to sources,the father of the deceased has been arrested while their mother is receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.
According to a blog,foods.com.au, the most common cause of food poisoning are
Infectious organisms.
These include:bacteria, viruses and parasites, adding that their toxins are the most common causes of food poisoning.
The blog further explained that infectious organisms or their toxins could contaminate food at any point of processing or production.
Health experts advise people to clean and wash hands and work surfaces before, during, and after preparing food, separate raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs from ready-to-eat foods,
cook food to the right internal temperature to kill harmful bacteria and keep refrigerator at 40°F or below, among other precautionary measures to avoid food being poisoned.