PSI Box Rice Causes Poisoned Koja Residents Allegedly Undercooked-Unhygienic

JAKARTA - Head of North Jakarta Health Sub-dept. Yudi Dimyati said the initial suspicion was that the rice boxes bearing the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) logo distributed in Beting Village, Koja District, North Jakarta, caused mass poisoning, because the food was undercooked and unhygienic.

Yudi Dimyati said that the test results of the DKI Jakarta Regional Health Laboratory (Labkesda) on the boxed rice sample, which allegedly caused 35 residents to experience vomiting and nausea, turned out to contain Escherichia coli bacteria exceeding the normal limit.

"The food is not expired but it is not hygienic," he said, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, November 3.

According to Yudi, the suspected cause of E. Coli bacterial contamination in the boxed rice sample was because the food processing carried out by the cook was not clean enough, so it did not eliminate bacterial contamination in the food.

"Not clean and undercooked, right? Because it's not hygienic, there are E coli bacteria, so it's not because it's expired," he said.

Yudi also clarified statements in a number of mass media, which previously reported that the PSI rice box sample testing was carried out by the Food and Drug Administration (BPOM).

According to him, BPOM officers did accompany Puskesmas officers to the locations of residents who were poisoned and took food samples on Tuesday, October 26. Furthermore, the food samples were brought by the Puskesmas staff to the Labkesda.

Labkesda then issued the results of the sample testing on October 29, 2021. From the results of the examination, a number of samples from rice, eggs, beans, and lettuce, by Labkesda, contained E coli contamination that exceeded the normal threshold value.

"Normal for example 1x10', if more than 1x10' can have an impact on human digestive organs such as diarrhea and vomiting," said Yudi.