At least 26 people, including children, have been hospitalized with serious illness over the past four days after eating food from Haji Biryani House, located beside the highway in Alamdanga town, Chuadanga. Between Monday (Aug. 31) and Thursday, customers who ate the biryani began falling ill one after another with vomiting, diarrhea and severe stomach pain. With entire families from multiple households falling ill after eating from the same shop, sharp anger has erupted over the establishment’s food quality and hygiene.
Customers bought biryani from the Alamdanga shop and took it home on Monday afternoon. Symptoms began from midnight after they ate it. As their condition rapidly worsened, the sick were admitted to Chuadanga Sadar Hospital and the Alamdanga Upazila Health Complex between Tuesday and Thursday.
Among those affected are Mariam Khatun, 27, of Jorgachha village, and her two sons, Tawhid, 2, and Tawsif, 8; Jinarul Islam, 46, of Roakuli village, his wife Panna Khatun, 42, and son Sahed, 13; the wife of Jahid Hossain of Rajapur village, along with his daughter Jannatul Srabani, 15, and relative Suborna Khatun, 21; and Sonia Khatun, 22, Sabina Khatun, 32, Jony, 11, and Rony, 15, of Chilaballki village.
Also seriously affected were Shirina Khatun, 40, Nusrat Jahan, 16, Parula Begum, 42, Parichhon Nesa, 45, Ivy Khatun, 23, Jisan, 5, and a 13-month-old infant named Jayan, from Hapania, Gourihrad and Khaskarara villages. At least six more patients remain under treatment at the Alamdanga Upazila Health Complex.
Dr. Farhana Wahid Tani, resident medical officer at Chuadanga Sadar Hospital, said many patients showing symptoms of food poisoning have been admitted to the diarrhea ward and are receiving treatment.
An inquiry found that food was mysteriously prepared at a site about half a kilometer from the shop’s sales counter, where no one was allowed to enter. For the past three years, Haji Biryani House owner Mizanur Rahman had been running the business with only a trade license, without any mandatory approval from the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) or food safety authorities.
Attempts to reach him since the incident have been unsuccessful.
After learning of the incident, Alamdanga Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) and Executive Magistrate A S M Shahnewaz Mehedi conducted a raid on the shop Tuesday afternoon. He warned the establishment and ordered it to obtain all necessary licenses immediately.
However, local residents are not satisfied with just a warning; they have demanded immediate strict legal action against the unlicensed establishment and testing of its food quality.